Severus and Ron's Great Adventure
by Spacefille
Summary: Severus Snape, to his extreme dismay, finds himself and Ron captured by a bunch of rather evil Muggles... and he can't do magic. Things get worse from there- will he be able to keep the both of them *alive* long enough to get out?
1. How we got into this mess

**------------------------------------------------------  
Severus and Ron's Great Adventure**   
By Marie

Author's Notes: This started with me working out my frustrations about the fact that X-Files wasn't on this Sunday night {_12/02/01_} and I was forced to watch _Die Hard _instead. It went from there.   
This fic was partially inspired by the fact that I have read Severus Snape paired with everyone BUT Ron. So I decided to throw them in a bit of an adventure together! (And then try to convince them not to kill each other... do you know how bloody hard that is to do??!)   
Warnings: m/m stuff with a *much* younger person.   
Rating: R   
Spoilers: For safety's sake, watch out for spoilers from all four books.   
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns these characters and everything Harry Potter, including all the rights I believe. She is a wonderfully talented writer, and if you *haven't* read her books, then what on earth are you doing here? Go read them instead! Oh yes, and don't sue please. (I don't have any money anyway, since I'm attending University and already owe my government everything I own plus some... _)  
Time Frame: Hmmm... give it a year after the forth book. So Ron is about 15 going on 16. 

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Prologue  
**How we got into this mess --   
**

****

It was over. His wand lay smashed into pieces only inches away from his face-- he could see them lying there, at least when he had his eyes open. They weren't open very often-- instead they were mostly closed tight as he tried desperately to cope with the pain. 

It didn't appear that Voldermort was going to lay off of the _Crusio_ anytime soon either. He supposed he didn't blame him... after all he *had* just found out his operative was still working hand in hand with Dumbledore, and had no intention of ever working for the dark forces again. It was bound to make him a bit miffed. 

The _Crusio_ relented for a moment, and then and only then was he allowed to relax, however slightly. Unfortunately it appeared that Voldermort had only relented for a bit to allow him to give him his full undivided attention as he screeched out more threats. Something about how much he would like to kill him. Yes, yes. Something else about making him suffer more instead. Same old story and if he wasn't in so much pain he would have rolled his eyes. He only expected as much after all. 

It was only when the surprisingly warm and comforting feel of a new spell washed over him that he really began to get concerned. And not only that, Voldermort had stopped prattling on-- which was VERY worrisome indeed. 

Which made it all the more clear when the sound of a twig snapping came at them all from somewhere very close to the clearing. 

He managed to convince his eyes to open a crack, only to see that the Deatheaters had jumped on it immediately, about five of them rapidly disappearing into the surrounding bush. Snape's heart fell. Damn it anyway. Obviously the intruder was either Harry or Dumbledore, and more than likely the former, seeing as Dumbledore wouldn't be so stupid as to let a twig snap ten feet away from a Deatheater's gathering. How on earth was he supposed to protect the brat if he was only half alive...?

His suspicions were confirmed that it was indeed Harry when he heard the yell of a young student and a replying flash of light from a wand as *someone* was over powered. 

Damn it, damn it. He attempted to struggle onto his hand and knees only to have Voldermort mutter another curse at him, which flattened him nicely. Gasping for breath he lay there, barely conscious as he despairingly watched the Deatheater's re-enter the clearing with their captor in tow. 

And Snape received quite a shock right before he passed out. He was expecting Potter... not Potter's best friend. For that stock of red hair and string of cuss words pouring from that mouth could only belong to one particular foolish Gryffindor he had the distinct displeasure of teaching... and that was Ron Weasley. 


	2. You'd think Muggles had nothing better t...

**------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 1  
**You'd think Muggles had nothing better to do with their time --   
**(Author's notes for continuity purposes: Yes, I'm aware that Area 52 doesn't exist, {beyond being a really swell place to read Stargate-SG1 slash... ;P}. Or maybe Area 52 *does* and we just don't know about it. After all this *is* the United States Government we're talking about... ^_~)   


He came to slowly, much more slowly than he would have liked being a man that prided himself in being constantly alert. He blinked, bringing the room in focus and tilting his head up to bring it level...

Only to find himself staring across a table at two nearly identical Muggles. (Of course the vast majority of Muggles looked the same to most purebloods, but these particular Muggles looked more alike than most.)

It took him a couple of moments to figure out that this was because the Muggles were wearing identical robes. Or costumes. Or whatever. There was a lot of black. And a little bit of white. No other colours adorned their outfits, which made him automatically assume that the muggles were authority figures of some sort.

By this time Severus had been conscious long enough to figure out that he was in some sort of muggle holding cell... a room with a stark white interior with nothing but a chair that he appeared to be attached to, a table, and another chair on the other side of the table. 

"Ah," Said one of the Muggles, speaking in a foreigner's accent. "So you've decided to join us." He made a grimace that well could have been an attempt at a smile. "I'm Agent Johnson and this is Special Agent Johnson." He paused. "No relation." 

There was a bit of silence, which Severus used to his advantage to make his lip curl.

The agent, upon realizing that his joke was lost on his prisoner, made short work of shuffling his papers in front of him. He stopped when they had resumed the positions they were in before he started to shuffle them, and steepled his fingers in front of his face. 

"Do you, sir," he began, "Have any idea who we are?"

Severus was silent. He didn't, but he wasn't about to tell the Muggle that. Good grief he hadn't spent half of his life being a spy for nothing. He had found out ages ago that if you're quiet long enough they'll just tell you what you needed to know...

He was right, incidentally. 

"We are FBI agents," the man explained, raising an eyebrow slightly. 

Severus glanced in-between agent #1 and agent #2, noting that the latter was eyeing him like he was a piece of rare meat. Or as if to gauge his reaction. He didn't give them anything beyond sneering just a little bit more. 

Agent #1 cleared his throat. "Sir, do you have any idea where you are?" He asked a bit impatiently.

Severus Snape had no idea where he was either, he guessed by the ominous way the agent asked him the question it was somewhere quite bad... 

The Agents looked at each other. 

"Sir," Continued the Muggle that was questioning him in a harsh voice. "You are in a top secret government facility known as Area 52. Approximately 24 hours ago you and another person were found here, INSIDE this facility, with no identification and no passports on your persons anywhere. Do you have any idea how you got here?"

"Another person?" Severus repeated. He had picked up interest in the decidedly one way conversation at the mention that someone else may have made his or her way here with him as well. 

"What is your name sir?" The Agent fired back at him immediately. 

Severus stared at him in stark confusion, wondering what exactly, that had to do with the other person. Then he realized that they were trying to throw him, and he wasn't about to be outwitted by a Muggle. "Sirius." He replied smoothly. "Sirius Black."

The two Agent's glanced at each other once again.

"All right Sirius," The Muggle continued, his voice still carrying an underlying tone of threat. "Do you have any idea what you were doing here, on the INSIDE of a top secret government facility?"

"Another person." Snape asked again. 

"How did you get here." The Muggle repeated. 

There was a very long pause. The Muggle glared. So did Snape. 

"Mr. Black, we suggest you talk to us," The Muggle finally said, his voice very low. "We've done as much as a background check as we could on you, and though we couldn't find much of anything, I would say by your accent that it's safe to assume that you are not a citizen of the United States of America. Do you know what that means Mr. Black?" He drawled. 

Snape let out a self suffering sigh. "I assume," he began in a very snide voice, "That you are threatening me." He attempted to sit up, only to find, quite to his surprise, that he was quite tied to his chair with some sort of Muggle rope and for once magic didn't seem to be working on jinxing them away. That still didn't stop him from sneering even more at the Muggle as he continued. "It won't work." He glared. "I don't think *you* quite understand, MR. Johnson, what *you* are dealing with here."

The standing Agent Johnson leaned forward with an expression of extreme interest on his face. As for the sitting Agent Johnson, he leaned forwards as well, apparently curious. "And, Mr. Black, what is it exactly we ARE dealing with here?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "Ma-gic," He supplied sarcastically when it appeared that the Muggle wasn't going to loose interest any time soon. This was very rapidly turning into a ridiculous situation, he thought. He fully expected the Ministry of Magic to show up any second and give him a stiff lecture on how he was not supposed to be corrupting the Muggles, which would actually be nice to get him *out* of here... this situation was wearing VERY thin. On the knowledge that the Ministry of Magic wasn't about to let him continue for very much longer, he did just that. "I'm a wizard." He sneered coldly. He waited. No Ministry of Magic. Hmm. He half shrugged and continued. "A *Deatheater* to be precise..." He went on, telling the Muggles absolutely everything he knew about his failed meeting with Voldermort, knowing full well that everything he said would be wiped from memory when the Ministry of Magic showed up. 

However, he was going to get a full reprimand for the extent that he was going. He finished telling the Muggles about his absolute last memory, which happened to involve Ron Weasley being dragged out of the bushes by some of the Deatheaters, which he realized, with just a slight twang of panic that there was still no Ministry of Magic anywhere to be seen. 

"Is that all Mr. Black?" Agent Johnson was asking him.

Severus blinked, then nodded once quickly. 

Agent Johnson reached into his pocket and a soft "click" issued from some sort of device in it. He then nodded to the other Agent Johnson, who reached into his pocket as well. What he pulled out caused Severus to start and stare. It was a needle... he would be a complete idiot not to recognize it... even Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse used the mostly Muggle invention to cure some of her students from time to time...

It also appeared to that Agent Johnson was coming right towards him with it. 

Severus sneered, and for the first time during the session he actually muttered a spell under his breath, fully expecting it to do something astounding, like throw Agent Johnson against a wall. It didn't do anything of the sort... in fact it did absolutely nothing. Agent Johnson continued to advance on him. 

Glaring Severus attempted to mutter another type of spell under his breath, and as like the last this one did absolutely nothing as well. 

He couldn't do magic. The shock went through him like a wave. He couldn't do magic! That must have been the curse that Voldermort put on him then... and if he had done that, *that* meant that he was helpless... 

Eyes wide, Severus *thrashed* as Agent Johnson reached him, grasping his bound arm. He let out a silent howl as the thin device entered him...

"Professor?" 

Go away, he thought.

"Professor?"

He moaned softly under his breath, tossing his head to the side in an attempt to ignore the voice. That didn't work very well.

"Professor Snape?"

Hey... he recognized that voice. Not that he wanted to. Sighing he forced his eyes open a painful crack, sourly taking in that face, and those freckles, and that red hair.

A Weasley. Ron to be precise. He moaned again, re-closing his eyes. Most mornings he had the delight of waking up to his nice gray dungeon ceilings... to see a student's face anytime before classes started was absolute blasphemy... 

His brain kicked in. Student. Ron. He sat up with a start, quickly fighting off the vertigo *that* caused. With wide haunted eyes he looked about himself, taking in the fact that he was at the back of what appeared to be rather long rectangular room, which was adorned with absolutely no furniture, and Ron Weasley was sitting on the floor a couple of feet away from him. 

"Where are we?" He asked quite breathlessly.

Ron gave him a curious look before frowning. "I don't know! How m'I supposed to know?" 

Severus glared at him like he was quite stupid. Which, for all intents and purposes, he was. "Well, where do you *think* we are Weasley?" He elaborated. "What was your last memory?" 

Ron's face flushed slightly, a sure sign that the boy was upset, but instead of hotly snapping back a retort, he spoke carefully. "I... don't know for sure. I think we're in some sort of..." He hesitated. "... Muggle prison I guess." He went on to explain how he had been caught by the Deatheaters, while trying to make his way back to the school and call for help... (apparently Harry and him had, not surprisingly, gotten themselves into a bit of trouble.) He then had woken up in a room not unlike the first room Severus woke up, were a bunch of Muggles had asked him a bunch of questions, then had led him here. "... And then they brought you in about an hour ago," Ron made a face. "But you wouldn't wake up until now."

Severus glared, then sighed. "Thank you Weasley." He said dryly. He inspected the room very closely from were he was sitting. There was nothing, it appeared, in the room that would help him determine how to get *out* of the room. In fact the room was about as bare as it looked when he had first come to... with the possible exception of a small device that seemed to be occupying the far upper corner near the door. His eyes narrowed at it. A little red light shone from it's box-like construction. Occasionally it would move a microscopic inch and then move back again. 

He had little doubt of what it was for... he didn't know much about Muggles, but being a Professor he still knew enough about Muggle Studies to get by. It was a Muggle recording device of some sort. They were being watched. 

He filed that information away, getting to his feet abruptly. He let out a small curse under his breath as the simple act of getting up caused his head to swim yet again. Frowning, he pushed off and started across the room.

"Where are you going?" Ron's apprehensive voice followed him. 

Snape ignored him. Reaching the door of the Muggle room, he pressed his hands against it, muttering a small listening spell against it. Once again he received quite a start... 

He still couldn't do magic. 

In absolute fury he backed off several paces, raised his hand and uttered a spell that under ordinary circumstances even with out his wand would have blown the door to bits. (He was *that* upset.) 

Still nothing happened. Blanching slightly, he turned back to inspect Ron Weasley, who was still sitting at the back of the cell, giving him a half curious, half wary look. 

"Weasley," he snapped. "Can you do magic?"

Ron started. "Without my wand?" He asked.

Severus rolled his eyes, layering on the sarcasm thickly. "YES, without your wand. You are a fifth year student Weasley, I would expect a third year student to be able to do simple spells without their wand."

Ron flushed hotly, but at least he obeyed. Reaching down and he held his hand palm up against the floor, then muttered a small spell under his breath. Snape recognized the spell instantly... it was to concoct a small heatless fire to appear in his hand... Hermione's specialty from first year, if he recalled correctly. 

Nothing happened. Frowning deeper, Ron tried again, but without success. 

Ron looked up, his eyes wide. "I can't do magic!" He exclaimed.

Instead of replying, Snape merely sighed, pacing back across the room to settle down beside Weasley. 

"Volder... I mean, you-know-who, he must have...!" Ron was babbling quickly. 

"Be quiet Weasley," Snape snarled. "And start trying to think up ways to get us out of here." He added.

They were still in the same predicament several hours later and with no break from each other, and both of their tempers were beginning to flare. They had nearly been at each other's throat once, (which had been about a hour previous) when some Muggles that bore slight resemblance to Crabbe and Goyle had come into cell. Giving out instructions in the form of a series of primitive grunts that *may* have passed for communication, they had led first Ron and then Severus from the cell. 

Severus had been intensely relieved that it had only been to lead them off to some rather grundgy facilities to get them both washed up a bit. 

A half an hour later, Weasley and him were once again shut in the room together, which wasn't doing much for their interpersonal relations to say the least. 

"Why ARE you so mean to us in class anyway?" Ron had said out of the blue when his Potions Teacher had finished pacing around the room again for what had to be about the fiftieth time. "It's not as if we're any different just because we're friends with Harry. Not that that should be an issue anyway..." He paused. "You just *like* being..." 

"Be *quiet* Weasley." Snape growled, then fixed his eyes apprehensively at the slant of light that filtered into the room from the door. He had thought he had heard footsteps again. When he was sure that he hadn't heard anything, he turned back to Ron. "Your wretched friend will be here soon to rescue us both, but until then, BE QUIET." 

Ron managed to be quiet for a whole minute or so. "Harry's probably dead by now." He finally muttered darkly. 

"Ron." Severus said with a small huff of frustration. "Rest assured, Potter is NOT dead because Potter will NOT die, no matter how hard Voldermort or anyone else for that matter tries to kill him."

Ron looked dubious but at least he was quiet, to Severus' great relief. 

The Potions Master sighed, once again pacing about the oblong room. He made precisely two rounds about the room before he gave up and sat back down again, an extremely sour look on his face. 

"A fine pair we make," Ron muttered after a moment, glaring straight ahead. "Harry may be still alive, and he may even come rescue us." He paused bitterly. "Except you'll probably berate him for something or other if he does come, you will. Fifty point from Gryffindor for being heroic and brave and saving us from the evil muggles Harry.' Never stop..."

"ARRGH! SHUT UP!!" Snape got up and turned on Ron suddenly, looming over him, his fingers flexing as if he wanted to go for his neck. Ron blinked up at him guilelessly. "Just shut up, you *stupid* boy." He hissed.

"Or what?" Ron's good sense gave way, and his chin jutted out defiantly. "You'll curse me? You can't do magic! You'll fail me at potions this year?" He got to his feet rapidly, his hands balled into fists. "You'll give me a detention? What?"

A vein on Severus' temple had begun to throb. "Don't tempt me Weasley." He hissed. "I'm sure your mother would like to see you again in a bit more than several pieces." He added, and instantly regretted his words. He hadn't meant to say that... he would never and *had* never lay a finger on any one of his students... even that insufferable Potter boy. He also wasn't usually so forthright with his threats, but the words had slipped out and now he figured it would be best if he now played it up. He gave the boy his best I'm you're evil Potion Master teacher, and I've been trapped in here all *day* with you. Push it and I just might do it' look.

Ron Weasley was a whole lot more brave when he had his friends around. He continued to glare for several seconds before looking away with a soft snort. 

Severus felt an odd thrill of triumph as the Weasley boy shut up and returned to sulking. He shook his head slightly. He really must be loosing his touch if winning a silly confrontation with one of his students gave him satisfaction....

Either that or he was having a real *bad* day. 

Agent Johnson was confused. A lot of the information they gathered from the prisoners checked out in one form or another, but there was some stuff that just didn't quite make sense. He shuffled the papers that were clenched in his hands through once, then shuffled them through once again. Whatever happened today-- whatever he recommended coupled with the "nay" or "yay" of two other men would determine the fates of the two prisoners... 

Frowning he looked up, taking in the other people about him. There were three other people in the room with him, including the other agent Johnson of course. Across from him sat a representative from the International office for the Relocation and Assassination of Terrorists and other Enemies (or rather I.R.A.T.E.,) and the last person in the room was an older man who sat at the very back of the room smoking a cigarette. Occasionally the man would put his cigarette out and light another one, his withered face in constant shadow. 

Agent Johnson had been commanded to ignore the last person. That was okay-- he was spending most of his time giving the IRATE man wary looks anyway.

"So," The other Agent Johnson said, starting the meeting off with just that. 

"So." Agent Johnson continued. He cleared his throat as well. "This is what we have determined so far." He cleared his throat again, then continued, half reading from his papers. "Prisoner CM456 is a man of what we believe is UK decent, around 40 years of age, thin build, six feet one inches tall, shoulder length black hair, black eyes, sallow skin..." He paused for a breath. "Who, from the information we've collected," He glanced at the other agent Johnson. "Is a terrorist of some sort." He glared at the IRATE man, who was *grinning*, of all the obscene things in the world.

"And your proof of this is?" The man smoking the cigarettes at the back rasped. 

The other Agent Johnson jumped a bit, then took over explaining. "As you well know, On June 11th of this year at exactly 7:13 am an alarm went off informing us that there were intruders in this building. At approximately 7:20 am prisoner CM456 and prisoner AB234 were found, unconscious on the topmost floor of this complex in room 7C. Both were unarmed, but there was a gaping hole in the roof of the aforementioned room. We have reason to believe that both prisoners CM456 and AB234 are members of a previously unknown terrorist organization codenamed "the Deatheaters" who's plans for some reason or another were fouled drastically on June 11th, which caused them to have to abort it and leave two of their members behind."

The first Agent Johnson took over again. "Now, we have reason to believe that the boy at least-- prisoner AB234 had fallen out of favor with these Deatheaters. We also have reason to believe that the boy, thanks to the dialogue we have been monitoring, was a student of the terrorist prisoner CM456. There have been references to "teacher" and "student" in their conversations. Their have also been references to things such as "wizards" and "magic", possible codenames of other operations that these "Deatheaters" were going to or have been performing. Another codename -- "Muggles" has been used, and we have reason to believe that this is their codename for citizens of the United States of America." He pierced his lips. This was were it seemed to get difficult. "They also seem to have made constant reference to two other people... the first is a Mr. Harry Potter, otherwise known as merely Harry or merely Potter. Now the boy at least seems convinced that this Mr. Potter will come and "save" them."

There were raised eyebrows all around. 

"Prisoner CM456 seems more skeptical of this fact. In fact, we theorize that the boy is not aware that he has fallen out of favor with the organization... but Prisoner CM456 knows and is in part, protecting the boy from the truth. Which may have been why Prisoner CM456 was left behind in the first place." He continued. "The second person is someone they constantly refer to as "you-know-who"... we have reason to believe that he is the ring leader of this particular group, seeing as they will not even mention a name." He made a face. "Both seem to be quite afraid of him, and we infer that if this you-know-who person they keep talking about knows they are in our hands, (which he must), and Mr. Harry Potter comes and breaks them out, (which he can't), this you-know-who is going to be upset at them and quite possibly kill them anyway." He concluded his little speech, with a dramatic pause, steepling his hands in front of his face 

"And your recommendations?" Rasped the cigarette smoking man from the shadowy back of the room.

"Well..." Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson gave each other significant looks before launching into their rather complex solution to the situation. 

In the end the IRATE man did not agree to it completely, being of the mindset that all suspected terrorists should be extinguished immediately, but the cigarette smoking man did agree. And seeing as the Agents had been instructed that not only were they to ignore the cigarette smoking man, but also if he *did* say something, his words were to be the final say. So the plans were to go forward. 

... Prisoner CM456 would be convicted on charges and evidence that they would collect tomorrow... but the boy... the boy they would let free... after *scaring* him enough of course.

They had to be sure he never wanted to be a Deatheater again. 


	3. Snape's really quite Horrible Day

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 2  
**Snape's really quite Horrible Day -- **_(... not that yesterday was a good day either...)  
_(Author's notes: All right, I'm apologizing. YES, there is sex in this bit. If this is something that disturbs you incredibly but you are enjoying the story, SKIP THIS CHAPTER and go onto the next.... it's a nice bit about how they escape!! :D Don't worry, you'll be able to pick off fine from there. You'll also be warned if I put any more sexual contact in. Okay? Good.  
Warning: {Besides the sex...}Extreme Snape Angst ahead. {Read the title.})   


The Muggles left them both quite alone for almost a day and a half before they took Severus away again. He hissed a Stay put, play dumb Weasley, you do it very well so keep it going' to Ron before they dragged him off. 

He was growing quite tired of the routine actually, by the time they had decided to stop questioning him for the second time around. He was tired and drugged by the end of it, even though he was fairly sure that he at least kept somewhat coherent during it all. And sarcastic... full of witty personal barbs. He had been so sarcastic in fact that Agent Johnson had decided that he deserved some cuffs across the face to help convince him to smarten up. 

The questioning had ended when one Agent Johnson (the one doing the questioning, not the cuffing) had asked him if he still believed he was a wizard, to which he had snarled that he obviously wasn't anymore or else he would have smeared them *and* their lousy muggle children across the walls *long* before now. The two Agents had exchanged glances and with a nod, the Johnson closest to him had stuck him with another needle and commanded the now familiar two unintelligent looking guards to lead him back to the cell. 

Though he stubbornly hadn't shown any hint of weakness around the Muggles, he wasn't doing very well to say the least when he got back to the cell. The moment the guards left the room Severus had swayed slightly and had to put a hand against a wall to support himself. 

Obviously the Muggles had pumped something distinctly harmful into him this time. He sucked in a shallow breath, continuing to sway slightly, even with his hand against the wall to steady himself. Pretty lights danced merrily in front of his eyes and he moaned. 

It was some sort of potion, he reasoned dully. Though he had no idea what kind of potion it was... 

He grimaced. e How depressingly ironic... he was Hogwart's Potion Master and he didn't even know what sort of potion the Muggles had forced into him. He gasped for yet another breath and wavered some more. Well, whatever it was, it wasn't doing much to help him keep standing. He also supposed the happy tingly feeling that was suddenly alighting his nerves wasn't natural either... 

"Professor?!" A small scared voice reached his ears and he jerked his head up, focusing as best as he could on Weasley. Which was harder to do then he thought, the boy was swimming. Literally.

Even so, he still managed to keep a sane level of aloofness as he sunk to his knees. "Everything is FINE Weasley. Do not concern yourself..." And then he gracefully passed out. 

"Professor?" 

_Go away_, he thought miserably. 

"Professor Snape?" 

Severus cursed mentally, refusing to open his eyes at least for another couple of minutes, knowing damn well that it was Ron who was speaking. It would have been impossible to have spent the last couple of days in the same room as him and NOT known that voice like the back of his hand. Not that he had particularly wanted to....

"Professor." This time when Ron spoke, his voice sounded much more closer to his ear than he would have liked. Startled, Severus jerked his eyes open. 

Ron wasn't quite as close as he had thought... his face was merely hovering about a foot above his face, concern written all over it. He sneered, and Ron broke into a half smile.

"You're awake." Ron noted. 

Severus glowered a bit but didn't say anything.

"Um, right." Ron looked away from a moment, towards the door, then looked back again. "The guards..." Ron shuddered and looked uncomfortable for a second. "... brought some water for you." 

It was only then that Severus realized just how thirsty he was. He was absolutely parched... perhaps it had something to do with the potion the Muggles gave him. Carefully he pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking the pro-offered Styrofoam cup from Ron's hands silently. He sniffed it, then tasted it. He was more than a little relieved to find that it actually really was just water. 

Ron gave him another half smile, fidgeted briefly, then looked down again. A finger strayed to the concrete floor and began to draw long loopy circles on its surface. 

Frowning Severus inspected the boy up and down from over his cup of good old water. He took another sip and looked him up and down again.

All right. He'd know those mannerisms from a student anywhere. "What *are* you hiding Weasley?!" He spat suddenly. 

Ron nearly jumped out of his skin. "I-I-- Nothing!!" He stuttered. "Nothing." He said again more calmly. 

Snape raised an eyebrow. He waited for a moment, but when no other information appeared to be forthcoming he continued. "I don't believe you Weasley for an instant!" he snarled, draining the rest of his cup in one gulp and tossing it aside. His lip curled. "You're wearing one of those looks that say "I just snuck out after dark and sabotaged a teacher's office Professor Snape, opps" or maybe "I didn't MEAN to steal all the toilet seats in the men's lavatory Professor Snape, opps" or maybe..."

Ron flushed brightly. "That was Fred and George!" He retorted. 

Snape opened his mouth to retort swiftly and sarcastically, then stopped for a second. _Ahhhh..._ so *that* was who had been stealing the toilet seats. He metally vowed to dock at least 30 points from each Gryffindor boy when-- *IF* he ever got back to Hogwarts. Trying to suppress his triumphant smile, he returned to the subject at hand. "YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT WEASLEY!!" He roared. "WHAT. ARE. YOU. HIDING??"

Ron didn't reply, but he had gone from flushing bright red to deathly white quite suddenly. 

Severus was going to continue to lay into the boy when he heard what Ron could obviously already hear. Footsteps. Several of them. 

Coming rapidly towards the room. Frowning, Severus glanced at Weasley, only to find the Gryffindor boy was pale and shaking slightly, his eyes wide as he stared at the door. 

What on earth...?!

And then he wasn't given the opportunity to think any longer because the door of the room crashed open. 

"What... what is the meaning of this?!" Snape demanded to know from where he stood at the back of the room. The guards, three of them this time (and all of them at least twice Severus' size) had entered the room and made straight for Ron, dragging him to the middle of the room where they attempted to make short work of the boys *cloths* of all things. And this was all before Severus could manage to re-hinge his jaw and demand an explanation. 

"Can't you tell...?" The guard closest to Severus sneered. "OUCH!!" He backhanded Ron when the boy bit him on the arm... *hard*. A brief struggle broke out before the two men flanking Ron could bring him back under control again. 

Snape noticed the boy was bleeding out of the corner of his mouth... his eyes snapped from the boy's face to the guard's again. 

The guard on the right of Ron sighed. "Suppose he needs it spelt out for him," He said. Grinning he reached down and groped the boy roughly, enticing a howl and another futile struggle from Ron. The guard grinned at the other one. "Going to be fun breaking him in..." he commented cheerily. 

Snape's jaw threatened to de-hinge again, but then he pulled himself together, his blood pounding in his ears. They could possibly be thinking of... from the desperate look Ron was giving him, they most certainly were. "Stop it," He snapped, swooping towards all three of them threateningly. 

The guard merely grinned, and Severus caught sight of the flash of metal in his large hand, which made him freeze instantly. _They have weapons...._

He was acutely aware of the fact that without a weapon and without magic he had nothing to defend against them with... 

_Oh god... _

He watched helplessly as the third guard reached down and began to undo the boy's pants. "We will..." The first guard motioned the other to stop... he merely paused. "We *might* consider not... taking *turns* riding this beautiful little piece of ass tonight..." He gave Severus a sick grin. "On one condition."

Deadly silence descended over the room. 

"... Which would be *what*, exactly?" Snape replied in a low and dangerously hissed whisper. He was vaguely aware that he was shaking slightly... though with rage or what exactly, he wasn't quite sure...

The guard hesitated for a moment, taking the time to look Severus up and down. It was going to be hard to convince this man of anything, he decided abruptly. Let alone convince him of what he had been instructed to get going on here tonight. 

It appeared that the drug that Agent's Johnson and Johnson had pumped into the man before returning him this afternoon wasn't working either. Which was going to make it all that much harder. It would be so easy to convince the man of doing this if there was even a hint of lust burning in those eyes... instead of the pure ice that was cutting into him now. 

For some reason he had a feeling this would fail incredibly... and he *really* didn't feel like playing with a teenaged boy tonight. Damn it. The things he did for his country. He swore very softly under his breath then pasted the grin back on to his face and proceeded to tell the black clad sneering man exactly what he had to do to save the boy's precious little ass... 

Do it himself. 

For a moment all Severus could do was stare. Perhaps he hadn't heard the Muggle right. Perhaps the potion the Muggles had given him earlier was still affecting him, goodness knows he felt very close to swaying over. "W-what?" He repeated through bloodless lips. 

"You heard me," the crass guard repeated. He laid a fat beefy hand on one of Ron's butt cheeks, giving it a very deliberate squeeze, wringing an odd half gasp, half choked sob from the boy. 

For another moment it was all Severus could do but stare, until he finally sneered, turning away very deliberately. "Do what you want with him," He said coldly. His eyes fluttered shut and he felt an odd wrench on his insides, but he had no other choice. His hands balled with fury at his sides, at his helplessness, at this situation. Damn *it*...

Surprisingly enough it was Ron's voice that broke through the haze that was rapidly developing over his senses. "You... you coward!" the boy spat with complete vehemence. Severus' eyes snapped back open. "Harry was right about you!" Ron continued angrily. "You really *are* pathetic! Only thinking about yourself..." his young voice cracked.

Something inside of Severus seemed to crack as well. He was turned back around and was nose to nose with Weasley in an instant. "Do you realize what you are saying?!" He hissed at him. "Do you realize what they want?" He drew himself up, glaring down at the boy from where he trembled minutely from between the two burly men. He screwed his face up into the most terrible grimace possible. "Do you really want this?!" 

"I DON'T WANT THIS!!" Ron screamed at him. He struggled against the arms that held him with a new vigor, then slumped, defeated, when once again nothing gave. 

For a long moment the teacher eyed his student. With a dawning realization Severus saw what Ron had wanted him to see... that the boy was scared... scared that Severus - a person who he didn't necessarily like at all - but at least was _familiar_ with would leave him to be... taken by force by several strangers. Under such odds he would probably choose the same... or maybe not. If only he weren't such a *private* person... 

He shut his eyes for another fleeting moment before opening them again. "Fine then," he growled. He drew himself up and then pointed from the guards to the door with one long bony finger. "Out." He ordered, his voice a contemptuous hiss. 

The guards glanced at each other then nodded, simultaneously released Ron and backtracked towards the door. They had done their duty, Snape supposed. Got across the message they had wanted to. Leaving Severus to... 

He drew in a quick breath between his teeth. *How* could he be expected to-- the door fell shut behind the guards with a bang. 

Oh _*god*...._

Scowling, Snape turned his attention back to Weasley, only to find the boy rooted to the spot, his eyes closed. His hands were balled into little fists, and he didn't appear to be breathing very well at all. 

Snape raised an eyebrow. Perhaps he wished to kill him. ... That would only be expected from a Weasley....

_Oh for heavens sake... _

"They told you." Snape finally whispered softly at him. It wasn't a question really.

Ron shook his head a slight bit and his fists clenched and reclenched at his sides. "Just... threatened." 

Pale lips parted, then spoke. "I'm sorry." And he was...

Ron shrugged. 

Snape groaned, pressing a palm against his forehead. He began to pace. This was definitely one situation he had never EVER wished to be in. "I... I won't--" he began vehemently.

Ron swayed a slight bit where he stood, then steadied, reopening his eyes. "You must!" he said desperately from between clenched teeth. "Or else they'll come back, and then they'll--" his voice rose hysterically. 

The boy had misinterpreted him. "Enough!" Snape ground out, breaking out of his pace and stalking forwards towards the boy swiftly. "Be quiet Weasley for goodness sakes! You never stop talking do you?" He had meant to sound sarcastic and cruel, but there was a hint of desperation in his voice that he had never intended to let in there. 

Ron fell silent and looked away. 

"Better." Severus glowered. He glared at the boy for a long moment then cast a fleeting glance upwards towards the Muggle recording device in the corner, giving it a look much worse than any he had ever given either Potter... 

Agent Johnson was watching that particular recording device at the time. He merely raised an eyebrow and glanced at his watch. "You have two hours," he muttered under his breath. With that he left the monitor and made his way towards the coffee machine. He had quite a night in front of him. 

Which was nothing in comparison to the night that Severus was having... 

The Potions Master was just about to return to pacing when he realized that he was merely stalling. Which stopped him short. The more he stalled the more chances there were that the Muggles would come back and try to make good on their threat. And though he was relatively good at spotting an empty threat, this one hadn't seemed quite so empty. They would do it. *That* was enough to make his blood boil with rage. He supposed it was instinct developed from being a teacher, (however reluctantly,) for so many years... what kind of person, Muggle or not, used _children_...?!

People like him apparently. 

Best to get it over with then. Lip curling with extreme distaste, Severus stalked forward suddenly, grasping one of Ron's wrists. 

There. He was doing it. For the first time in his life he was touching a student with the intent to harm. Deep inside of himself he shuddered, but then he gritted his teeth, steeling himself. He still had a lot further to go tonight, no sense getting cold feet now. If wasn't as if he hadn't done worse things...

He winced. He _really_ didn't want to think about *that* right now. 

Grimacing, he pulled the hapless boy forward, marching him right to the very back of the room. And besides a preliminary little yelp of surprise, Ron followed him with no further protests on his part. 

Which was good. Grasping the boy by his shoulders, Severus turned him about and pressed him up against the wall, then paused, studying him to gauge his reactions. 

Ron was looking somewhere off of his shoulder, his face so pale that his freckles stood out harshly and his breathing was still irregular. For not the first time Severus was gripped with a sense of the utter wrongness of the situation.... Ron was a student. His *student*....

And then he realized what he had to do to get himself through this. "Ron," he whispered softly, grasping the boy's chin hard and bringing his head up so that his wide eyes met Severus'. He forced his voice to be kind... it may be the last time that night that he acted somewhat civilly. "Ron, listen to me," He said. He lowered his voice so that only Ron could hear him. "From this moment on, I am no longer your teacher, do you understand me?" 

Ron's eyes narrowed slightly, then he nodded quickly. 

"Think of me of anyone else you'd wish..." Severus' eyes glinted and he sneered. "A Deatheater even."  
From the fleeting horrified look on Ron's face, Severus figured that there *was* something in the world more awful to Ron than his nasty old Potions teacher. It was really too bad that Severus was both.

Ron gulped and nodded again. 

"Good," Snape murmured darkly. And then he kissed him. 

For a moment he thought the boy was going to try to break away and make it extremely hard for him to continue without forcing him. He was quite surprised when he didn't. Maybe... maybe Ron had more guts than even his friend Harry gave him credit for. Or maybe he was just afraid that the guards were going to come back and drag him off...

He continued to kiss him, concentrating intently. It may have surprised the vast majority of his students (especially the ones he constantly docked points from for public displays of affection) but he did know, psychologically at least, what he was doing. And he had a fairly keen idea of where to touch a person to evoke a response of some sort... 

He nibbled at his lower lip, running his hands lightly up and down his arms. After a moment or so the reluctant mouth opened underneath his assault and he pushed inside gently. He allowed his tongue to explore the boy's mouth slowly, giving him time to adjust. For the longest while Ron just took it, until he finally felt the boy's tongue move hesitantly against his. 

Good. Keeping his touch feather light, he ran his fingers along the boy's arms to under his rib cage and finally settled them on his cotton-clad hips, guiding his body forwards to press up against him. He held him there for a moment, then let him go again, breaking the kiss long enough to get a quick glance at the boy's face. 

He was surprised yet again. Instead of wearing an ill look on his face- which Severus would have expected- or gazing at him horrified, which he also would have expected, Ron's eyes were merely closed. As for the expression on his face, he looked as if he were only concentrating very hard on something... 

Snape blinked, astounded. Score another one for Gryffindor courage... the boy was trying. He was actually *trying*... to learn, or at very least make it so that the experience was a lot less forced... 

He managed a sour smile and leaned forwards again, this time his mouth moving unerringly to the boys neck. He then proceeded to pick up the pace, his hands trailing off the boy's hips and around to the front of him...

And then Ron Weasley let out and odd yelping sound that had a little less to do with fear and a little more to do with pleasure... 

Agent Johnson turned away from the monitor in disgust. "I've seen enough." He announced. "There's enough evidence there to put him away for the rest of his life..." He paused significantly. "Terrorist or not." It was a weighted comment... they weren't quite sure if the prisoners were terrorists or not in the first place. But in any ordinary situation both would have been dead by now... whether their intentions were benign or not.

Unfortunately for both of the prisoners, Agent Johnson was of the personal opinion that a little child molestation was enough to sway any jury into believing anything about anybody. And on the same note a little child molestation, if played right, could grab a jury's sympathy towards the victim. 

The other Agent Johnson must have agreed, at least he didn't offer up any protest. He also did not seem very willing to look away from the monitor. He winced as the man dressed in black got in a particularly good grope. "What about the boy?" He muttered. 

Agent Johnson shrugged. "Slap him with six month's therapy and send him back to England with our condolences. Nobody's going to say anything about him."

Back in the room Severus was having a rather rough time of it.

If anything he attempted to perform mechanically, determined to keep an air of clinical detachment from the boy even as he stripped him of most of his clothes. Keeping his distance from the situation was considerably easier said than done when he had to get both of them excited somehow.

He was having extreme difficulties, a fact that irritated him. He was a Deatheater for crying out loud! He could do this! 

At least when he was a Deatheater he never had to *touch* anyone, he thought vehemently. At least not touch anyone in a remotely *pleasant* manner that is. 

He sighed mentally at himself and abruptly brought his thoughts back to the task at hand... which included biting gently at the newly exposed skin, evoking another soft moan from Ron. At least Ron had seemed to have progressed past the point of making a huge objection... thank goodness it wasn't all *that* hard to manipulate teenaged hormones.... 

He already had one hand working on freeing the boy of his pants as he mouthed down the rest of the boy's lanky chest, moving unerringly towards his-- lower extremities. It was only when he pulled the cotton free of thin hips that he heard a fearful gasp from Ron. "P-professor..." He began, in a voice that shook with uncharacteristic uncertainty for a Weasley. 

Snape chose to ignore him and set about doing... *pleasant* things with his mouth. Even though he could feel beneath the hands he had resting on the boy's hips that he was shaking slightly, he offered up no further protest.

He also took amazingly little time to spend, and when he did he did so soundlessly. Swallowing down the bitter liquid, Snape allowed himself a few moments to recover -- he was feeling quite light headed himself -- before he spoke. 

"See?" he gasped hoarsely. "That wasn't so..." He paused. 

There was no reply... not a whimper-- nothing. "Ron?" 

The boy was sagging against him. Puzzled, Severus looked up to inspect the boy, only to see his head was lolled to the side, eyes closed and his expression peaceful enough... 

Severus stood up abruptly, or at least tried to, his head swimming dangerously. Shutting his eyes he pressed himself half against the wall and half against the boy and waited for the dizzy spell to pass before he opened them again. "Ron?" He questioned again quietly, reaching out and fingering the boy's face with a concerned hand. 

No reply and Ron's jaw was slack under his hand. He was still breathing... but he... he was quite... unconscious. Snape was absolutely stunned. That was the first time he had ever known someone, student or not, *wizard* or not, who could make themselves pass out just to disassociate themselves from a situation...

He couldn't even do that! ... It hadn't been that bad had it? He hadn't even gotten to the nasty parts yet...

He felt a sudden wave of compassion for the boy. Carefully he grasped the boy's shoulders and guided his limp body down to the floor, laying him down gently and tugging his pants back into place. He at least could give him that much, he decided. Modesty. And he wasn't about to do much else with him tonight... if any Muggles had any protests he would tell them exactly what he thought about them and their sick hobbies... (before he killed them with his own hands or died trying...!) He *wasn't* about to play with an unconscious body...

But...

Rage swiftly turned into regret. The damage had already been done hadn't it? A fleetingly remorseful look took to his face as he settled down next to Ron. There wasn't much chance he was going to be able to remedy this awful situation... unless of course Professor Dumbledore decided to take pity on the boy and wiped his memory-- after he accepted Snape's resignation papers of course. Pending they ever got _back _to Hogwarts... and that prospect seemed to be growing more and more doubtful by the hour. 

Wretched expression growing, Snape gazed down at the sleeping boy. I'm sorry,' He mouthed. And he was... he really had nothing against the Ron or any of the Weasley's for that matter. In fact Arthur Weasley was a good hardworking man and his family deserved a mite bit more than what they had been handed in life...

He shook his head quickly. Thinking about Ron's parents right now was *not* a good idea. 

Wearily he reached out. Slowly, cautiously, he allowed his fingers to fall and paternally brush a damp lock of hair away from Ron's forehead... 

He started. Staring, Severus pressed the palm of his hand more fully against Ron's forehead, then frowned-- deeply. 

Oh no. This wasn't _good_... 


	4. The Great Escape Part 1

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 3  
**The Great Escape, Part 1 **_(a.k.a. -- Severus is still having a bad day, but things are beginning to look up!)  
_(Bit #3... in which our hero and his trusting side kick get broken out of jail by some terrorist friends and outwit the great American cow-boy... yee-haw!! First though-- More Snape Angst. _)   


For the first time in days Severus Snape swam back into consciousness withOUT an annoying student's voice in his ear, but instead with a sickening realization of what had just transpired. NO... 

Nononononono. He hadn't *really* done that... had he?

He had. He barely had to turn his head an inch and open his eyes to see him... and he could already feel him. Ron Weasley, his *student*, curled up against him. In sleep his face looked so much more... innocent, his lips slightly parted as he breathed in and out against his chest. A hand was clenched to the front of his robes, holding the black fabric in a desperate fist even in his sleep. 

His lip curled. He was possessed quite suddenly by an urge to push the boy away and get to the other side of the cell from him as swiftly as he could. His second instinct was more humane. Ron's clothing were either missing or displaced and he was bare-chested and more than likely cold. Which was probably why the boy was nestled so tightly against him in the first place... the temperature in the room was almost too icy for *him* and he had spent the vast majority of his life in his unpleasantly cool dungeons. He could show a little bit of heart and drape part of his cape over him at least... after all he had done or attempted to do to him the day before it was only fair....

As it turned out he didn't have to worry about either. Ron awoke then. The boy lay still for almost a complete minute before blinking up at him, his brown eyes confused. "Hullo..?" He questioned sleepily. "'Ave we been rescued yet?" He yawned, then shivered suddenly, burrowing himself more into Severus. "S'cold. uess not." He shivered again.

Severus drew in a hiss of air through his teeth, tensing. The boy was much too close... he relaxed slightly when he realized that Ron had partially faded off again. 

He frowned. Carefully he brought up a hand, hesitating only a moment before pressing it against Ron's forehead. He drew in another hiss of breath at what he found there. 

No wonder Ron hadn't objected to waking up laying against Snape... the boy was still feverish. 

Great, he thought grumpily. He sat up swiftly, which startled Ron into semi-consciousness again. Grumbling out curses under his breath he got to his feet, stalking about the cell to retrieve the boy's lost shirt. Picking it up, he tossed it at Ron. Stalking about a bit more, he picked up the boy's school vest... and threw that at him as well. 

Yawning from where he had settled at the back of the room, Ron put both of the articles of clothing back on without protest. Rubbing at an eye, he watched, his expression semi-amused, as his teacher began to pace about the room yet again... but this time in an obviously very foul frame of mind, even for him, stomping as he went. 

"You're in a mood this morning," Ron commented sleepily, rubbing at the other eye with his other fist. 

Snape snarled, quite literally, and turned to face the boy. For a moment Ron thought he was going to *attack* him, but then his Potions Teacher stopped short and studied him for a long moment. 

Severus' eyes narrowed. Ron didn't look too incredibly upset... rather more or less *amused* of all things. He stared at him long and hard. It was almost as if... 

"Ron," he began slowly. "Do you..." he paused.

"Do I wha'?" Ron mumbled. "I'm hungry." He added suddenly.

Severus shook his head, irritated. *He* couldn't do a thing about the food... they ate when the Muggles felt like feeding them. "Ron," he continued exasperated. "Do you remember *anything* from last night at all?"

Ron blinked up at him blearily, his forehead wrinkling in confusion. "I went to sleep?" He said with genuine puzzlement. 

"Nono." Snape said sharply. "*Before* that boy. Do you remember anything from *before* that?"

Ron blinked. "'dunno. S'a test?" He mumbled fuzzily. "'Mione's good at em, not me." 

Snape looked positively livid for a moment before he forced himself to calm down, taking in the fact that Ron's eyes had half drifted closed again.

Sighing, he swept forwards towards him. Crouching down in front of the boy he worriedly pressed a cool palm against his forehead. 

He was so very hot...

Ron gave him a curious look, then shivered again, teeth clattering for a moment. "I'm sick aren't I?" He asked intelligently when he had stopped shivering. 

An eyebrow raised. "Amazingly perceptive of you Weasley," Snape replied dryly. He pressed his hand against the boy's cheek, then stood again, studying the bleary-eyed boy at his feet. This wasn't good at all. For what had to be the hundredth time in the last couple days he wished he still could do magic. He needed to get Ron to a doctor... even a Muggle doctor would do... 

He returned to pacing. He couldn't get out, and Ron was sick. He couldn't ask the Muggles for help, could he? No... his lip curled. No asking *Muggles* for help. Not after the display yesterday... 

It was about an hour later-- Ron had returned to lightly dozing-- when Snape heard the familiar sound of approaching footsteps coming towards the room. Tensing he froze mid-step in his continuous pacing, then turned heel instantly and made for Ron. He had learnt from experience, and he was determined to be prepared this time. Crouching by Ron's side, he shook him awake. "Get up," he hissed, sending an apprehensive glance towards the door. 

Ron jerked awake and shakily got to his feet without so much as a peep of protest, another sure sign that the boy was ill. No matter, Severus was grateful for the co-operation, and he stood in front of the boy, determined, this time at least, to not let anyone near him. 

And then the door of the room opened with a familiar click... but instead of revealing the guards again, it was both the Agent's Johnson's standing there. And they were holding Muggle weapons in their hands, which were both trained directly on him. 

Severus made a soft growling sound somewhere low in the back of his throat. 

Agent Johnson, the taller thinner one with the pocket-marked face, was the one who spoke first, stepping a couple of feet into the cell. "It's really too bad that he doesn't remember," He said casually. 

Severus' eyes narrowed. "I'm sure." He sneered. "And what, may I ask, is so horrible about it?" 

Agent's Johnson and Johnson gave each other significant looks. "Don't pretend we don't know what you are Mr. Black!" One of them said suddenly. "Because we do."

Severus stared at them. He hadn't been pretending anything, so he *really* didn't know what they were...

"Mr. Black?" Ron questioned from behind him. 

Rolling his eyes, Severus made a very quick, rude gesture behind his back that meant "be quiet or ELSE" to Ron. 

Agent Johnson had his eyebrow's raised... he had caught that little exchange. "Yes... 'Mr. Black'," He repeated. "You... are a terrorist." He said. 

A _WHAT_?! Then Severus vaguely recalled someone once telling him that a terrorist was the Muggle equivalent of a rogue wizard that ran around causing havoc for some cause or another. ... Sort of like the Deatheaters. He snorted softly. Well, the Muggles could believe what they wanted...

"However," the FBI agent continued, "We really believe that your young friend," He nodded at Ron, "Isn't deserving of the same fate as you, Mr. Black. He isn't cut out to be "Deatheater", is he?" His eyes narrowed triumphantly when Snape's mouth fell open. "We just had to make sure he never wanted to be a Deatheater again... what better way then by setting one of his own kind against him?"

Snape's just stared. That had to be the most *ludicrous*... 

"But I'm not..." Ron was saying. Snape turned round on him rapidly, very quickly capping his hand over the boy's mouth before turning his attention back to the Mr. Johnsons, eyes flicking rapidly from the one to the other. What, exactly, where they planning..? 

The Mr. Johnson closest to him shrugged and made a motion with his weapon. "So now we're going to take the boy if you don't mind...."

Knowing full well that he was risking putting his life in danger as well as Ron's, he shoved Ron roughly so that he was standing directly behind him. "Oh, but I *do* mind," He spat out. "You're not going anywhere with..." He paused, his brow wrinkling. "... him..." 

Agent Johnson was no longer paying attention to anything Severus was saying... instead his head was tilted to the side as if listening to something far away. He glanced behind himself at the other agent, who cocked his head to the side as well. 

And then Severus could hear what the Agent's could hear. It was soft and distant rumbling sound, which, now that he thought about it, was causing the floor to shake ever so slightly. As he listened the sound got louder and louder... until he could not only hear the rumbling sound, but also a faint tap-tap-taping that sounded vaguely like light rainfall splattering gently on castle stones outside. The tapping sound stopped for a moment, then resumed again, a little closer. 

Agent's Johnson and Johnson looked quite concerned about this. Conferring quickly in-between themselves in hissed whispers the one closest to them motioned quickly for the other to go. He took off, allowing the door to fall shut behind himself with a heavy bang-- Severus winced. 

The Agent that was left in the room turned back to the prisoners, his jaw tense. "Nobody moves," He snapped, training his weapon directly at Snape. 

Snape merely sneered at him. He had no intentions of going anywhere, and neither was Weasley... he heard a movement from behind him and instantly he reached behind himself and placed a death grip on Ron's arm to *assure* that Weasley didn't go anywhere. He was sure, if Ron wasn't in the room with him, he would have tried something foolish... like trying to rush the Muggle and trying to knock the weapon out of Muggle's grasp. But with Ron here... and that instantly meant that he had to take precautions with his life, in case the boy needed him alive.

After all, he couldn't very well protect his student if he were dead. 

The sounds were drawing closer to their room. The closer they got the more jumpy Mr. Johnson got, and Severus was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have just risked it and rushed Mr. Johnson anyway... he looked like he might just accidentally *fire* that Muggle weapon... 

Another rumbling sound came, MUCH closer to them than the first one and this time the room shuddered and rocked, so much so in fact that Severus was nearly thrown to the floor. Bits of the ceiling were beginning to rain down on them and suddenly Severus was VERY sure of something.... 

"Get down!!" He shouted, turning around and grasping Weasley, throwing Ron to the floor with bit more violence than he had intended, rolling on top of him. At the same time another what-ever-it-was exploded, right on top of them, causing the room to shake violently, bringing more ceiling and dust raining down on them-- this time in much larger chunks. A rata-tat-tatting sound came to his ears much too close for comfort... He shielded Ron's head under his arm, keeping his own head down. 

Only when silence had descended over the room for a couple of moments did he cautiously raise his head. Squinting he peered through the slowly settling dust towards the door, eyes searching for Agent Johnson. 

Except the door wasn't there anymore, and neither was Agent Johnson. There was merely a rectangular hole where the door had been... and standing in the battered door frame was yet another man. 

He was a large muscular Muggle with black hair, brown skin and a covered face, and he was holding two Muggle weapons in each large hand and giving him a very nasty look. 

Severus' eyes located Agent Johnson then-- or what was left of him at least... his body was slumped in between Severus and the man in the doorway, and he appeared to be bleeding from several holes in different places on him. Snape looked back up at the armed man with alarm. 

The armed man raised both his weapons. 

For the second time in less than a week Severus was very sure than he was going to die. Barely breathing, he slowly climbed to his feet, sticking his hands in the air in what he hopped appeared to be a peaceful gesture. 

The man merely narrowed his eyes at him and glared. The weapons didn't move.

Snape closed his eyes. This was it then... he was going to die... at the hand of a Muggle no less... 

"Don't!" A thin voice came from behind him. 

Or not. Severus' eyes shot back open, and he glanced behind himself quickly to see a rather dust covered Ron struggling to his feet. "Don't," he said again. "Don't shoot..." He coughed wildly for a moment. "Him." He added with a rasp. 

The masked man didn't lower his weapon, but instead rattled off a very rapid question in a foreign language. 

Severus had no idea what the man had said, and he was *sure* Ron didn't either, but still Ron replied. "Don't shoot." The boy repeated, his voice a little more forceful. He glared at the Muggle. 

The man was silent for what seemed like a very long time. Finally he broke the tension by throwing his arms wide and smiling under his mask. 

"Comrades in arms!" The man declared in muffled and VERY thickly accented English. "Brothers! Follow and be free!" He went to leave, but not before he paused to allow one of his Muggle weapons to slide down his arm... he tossed it jovially at Severus. The Muggle disappeared from sight as Severus caught the weapon, which he dropped instantaneously like he had touched a dead thing. 

He stared from the weapon to Ron and back again. 

Ron only stared at the weapon, appearing to be a fair deal more impressed than he was. "Wicked!" He declared, darting forwards and picking up the muggle weapon. "Do you have any idea what this thing is?!" He asked Snape, grin plastered on his dust-covered face. "Dad talks about them all the time! Muggle death-sticks! But its not just any death-stick... watch!" He slug the weapon over his shoulder, gripping it and aiming its nozzle at the now totaled doorway and the front of the room. A rain of loud noises erupted from its snout, leaving no one hurt but a wide arch of circular holes in the already severely damaged wall. 

Grinning, Ron turned his attention back to Severus. Instead of looking impressed though, Severus looked quite pale, and his long bony fingers were gripping Ron's shoulder in an extremely hard grip. "Ron," he said quite breathlessly after a moment. "I think you had better give me the death-stick." 

"Are you crazy?" Ron declared, shrugging off Severus' hand. "Com'on," he said, running for the door, leaping over Agent Johnson's body along the way. "Let's get out of here and get back to the school!" 

Severus Snape looked like he was going to protest by not move an inch before he finally drew himself up. Muttering something about throttling a certain student of his under his breath, he followed the boy, pausing only long enough to give the body an extremely distasteful look. 


	5. The Great Escape Part 2

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 4  
**The Great Escape, Part 2 --** _(Things are *definitely* looking up!)  
_

It only occurred to Severus Snape once he was out of the cell and had already picked his way through the piles of rumble half way down the hall... wasn't Weasley *sick*? How the boy managed to find enough energy to take off on him like that, he didn't know... His mind went on a fuming little tangent about how this was always to be expected of Weasley, him and Potter went hand and hand when it came to such things... 

Then he stopped. On the same subject, Weasley was no where in sight. Uttering a few choice obscenities under his breath, he gritted his teeth and picked up his speed. 

The carnage about him was absolutely horrible, he decided, after having to step over several uniformed Muggle bodies along his way down the corridors. But his blood didn't chill until he suddenly heard the _very _familiar shout of a teenage boy and the equally familiar rat-a-tat of a Muggle weapon in the corridor ahead of him and to the left. Turning deathly pale, Severus *ran*. 

Ron Weasley was slumped against the side of the corridor when Severus reached him, head down and in-between his knees. He was breathing hard... in shallow little gasps, but he was obviously still very much alive. 

"Weasley!" Severus shouted at him, crouching down at his side and clutching at his arms. "You should have waited for me, you incredibly DULL-witted boy..." he hissed angrily. "Did you even stop to *think*..." He paused when Ron showed no indication of hearing him. _Ah, bloody hell..._ "... are you all right?" He grated out from between clenched teeth. 

Evidently not. Ron's face was flushed when he looked up, and it looked like he had tears running down his cheeks. He smiled though... grinned actually. "Almost... got... me." He panted. 

It took Severus a second to realize that Ron was talking about a guard that lay dead several feet away... he balked. Ron had done a good job of riddling the man's face and body with holes... And his Muggle weapon only a foot or so from his outstretched hand where he had fell. 

He turned his attention back to Ron, shaking him slightly. "Don't you ever do that again, Weasley!" He snapped, forgoing sarcasm for direct orders. "*Wait* for me next time!" 

Ron continued to grin. "I know." He said softly. His eyes fell closed as Severus climbed to his feet. Shouldering the boy's death-stick Snape began to try to tug Ron to his feet with his free hand. 

Ron tried to get up... but it didn't work very well as he was shaking fairly badly-- and he fell backwards again. 

"Come on, get up!" Severus snapped, his patience wearing very thin. 

After another failed attempt, Severus finally gave up and bodily *picked* up Ron, despite his weak protests; slinging him over his free shoulder. He balanced the boy as well as he could and continued to make his was hastily down the hall... 

Surprisingly he was met with no other opposition as he made his way through the corridors as quickly as he could. Obviously the Masked Muggles had taken care of the rest of them. Now he just hoped he was going the right way and that one of the turns would lead him to the outside... 

The sound of Muggle weapon fire met his ears after a couple of more turns and grew consistently louder as he progressed. He was seriously considering turning around and taking them both back the way they had come when he stepped around one last corner-- and stopped short. He had found the outside finally, as evidenced by the huge lack of a door at the end of this hall, and the view beyond it. It was very nice that he had finally found the outside, however he could see that it would be extremely unwise to try to venture out there. It was dark, and it appeared that there were trees in the distance, but between him and them lay some sort of large concrete pad. And on the concrete pad, there appeared to be some sort of battle going on, complete with blinding flashes of light and much weapons fire.

To make matters worse, the lights in the building chose that moment to flicker. Severus looked up, staring at the long thin Muggle devices that lit the corridor. 

As he watched the lights flickered once again, then went out-- Severus cursed softly. Now the only light available was coming from the weapons outside. While immersed in darkness, Severus had to admit that the Muggle's battle was presently just as colorful as any wizard battle. If he wasn't *quite* as desperate to get both him and his young charge to safety he might have found it in him to admire it a little bit more. As for now he peered out into the carnage with distress, wondering how exactly he was going to get them across *that* in one piece...

His question was answered no more than a minute later. Coming from somewhere behind him he could hear the rather alarming sound of pounding footsteps and Muggle voices talking very rapidly. Feeling more than a little bit exposed, he backed towards the far wall of the corridor, shifting Ron's weight as he went. "I'm going to put you down now Weasley," He whispered softly. 

Ron made a noise that sorta sounded like "ugghh..." Severus took it to be a positive sound and brought the boy to his feet, holding one arm around his waist to keep him upright. The voices came closer and closer, and Severus pressed against the wall as firmly as he could while holding the muggle Death-stick in his free hand. For a fleeting moment he wished he could melt into the wall as he wasn't very keen on the thought of having to use a muggle weapon he had never used before to try to defend them both...

Well, he was going to have to do his best. Gritting his teeth, he leaned Ron up against the wall so that both of his hands could be free. 

Severus raised his weapon, gripping and aiming it like Ron had, just as about five Muggles wearing masks over their mouths skidded to a halt as they rounded the corner. For a moment Muggle and Wizard stared at each other, then almost instantly several clicks went off as the Muggles raised their weapons as well. Among other things... some of the masked muggles were carrying some sort of Muggle _Lumos_ device... he was blinded suddenly as several lights played over his face. Letting out a small cry of surprise he lowered the Muggle death-stick and instead shielded his eyes.

Looking back on that he decided that that had been a fairly dumb thing to do. Or it may have been a smart thing to do... either way the Muggles came very close shooting him all at once. Only the sudden cry of "NO!" Simultaneously from Ron *and* one of the masked men stopped them. 

The lights dropped and he could *see* again. Glaring, he turned his gaze to Ron, who had, once again, spoken up and probably saved his life--

But Ron wasn't looking at him... he was looking apprehensively at the Muggles. 

Severus turned his attention back to the Muggles as well. They were speaking in amongst themselves in the same rapid and foreign accent that Severus had heard from the masked man back at the room. The Muggles themselves appeared to be in the middle of an argument of sorts, complete with rapid hand gestures. The man who had said "no" was indicating to Severus' death-stick, and he appeared to be trying to explain something. He was rebuked with more questions, which he refuted; now making at motion at Ron. Finally the Muggles appeared to agree with him and backed off, turning their attention back to Severus. 

There was one particular Muggle who was standing a step closer to Severus than the rest, and he spoke with an accent as well, though his accent wasn't quite as bad as the first Muggle. "Rashid say you not the enemy?" he demanded to know. 

Snape's tongue darted out and he wet his lips cautiously. "I'm-- not an Agent, if that's the question..."

"We're just like you!" Ron spoke up from where he stood slumped against the wall. "We're prisoners here! He..." Ron indicated to Rashid with a trembling hand. "He killed the man that had us captured and let us go!" 

Severus stared at Ron, lip curling slightly. For someone that was so *sick* he was shaking violently and could barely stand, Ron sure seemed to speak a lot at the most inopportune times... he glared at the boy through narrowed eyes. Ron caught his look out of the corner of his eye and gave him a half shrug. 

It appeared that Ron's words had done the trick... The muggles looked at each other, some of them made a couple of comments in the same foreign language, and then they all turned back and nodded at Severus. "You come!" the lead muggle pronounced, moving past Severus and indicating him to follow. 

"I don't think going out there is such a good idea..." Severus muttered, returning to Ron's side and threading an arm around his waist to support him. Outside the lights and explosions hadn't deminished at all. 

The Muggles didn't seem to be too concerned. They all raised their weapons and continued forwards rapidly, stopping just short of running out into the open. Conversing rapidly between themselves they stood, their death-sticks posed and ready. Severus half walked half-dragged Ron forward to stand with them. 

A Muggle turned then-- one that had been standing at the very back of the group and he drew his mask down to reveal his face. Or rather her face, Severus could see from the dim light originating from outside that the Muggle was most definitely female. 

The female Muggle smiled. "Don't worry," she whispered in a completely American accent. "We're just waiting for the calvary to arrive."

"The what?" Severus repeated. 

"Our ride. Oh there it is," She said, glancing over broad shoulders of the Muggles in front of them. "Here we go..." 

Severus heard it then, as did the rest of the Muggles from the hoarse cheers that welled up in their throats. The rumble of what sounded almost like the Hogwarts Express was coming their way... but then Severus could see it was actually a very large Muggle truck with a large trailer haul on it's back. He could also see that it was coming towards them rapidly. It swung around when it reached the door, revealing a cavernous opening at the back of the truck with several more Muggles with guns standing inside. 

The Muggles in front of him were suddenly around him, tugging him and Ron forwards. Amidst much chaos they all ran towards the truck and Severus was vaguely aware of Ron being pulled away from him. He opened up his mouth to protest only to find several sets of hands clamped around him, his arms and waist and then he was airborne. Seconds later his feet touched the metal flooring of the truck and then the chaos continued, hands were pushing him back, straight into the dark interior of the truck. 

He couldn't see a thing in front of him, the interior of the truck was pitch black, but he was vaguely aware that there were a lot of Muggles about him, and all of them seeming to be talking at once. People kept on jostling him about, making it very hard to stand... 

He was just about to call out for Ron to see if he was okay when Ron did it for him-- A "Professor Snape!!" reached his ears from somewhere in front of him in the darkness. He attempted to move towards his voice, but that proved impossible in the nearly obscene crush of people. 

He was vaguely aware of the fact that the truck was moving again when he was thrown back suddenly, causing him to land against several warm bodies. Hands grasped and pushed him upright again instantly and without protest. There were a couple of more lurches of the truck, as well as some more shouting, and then a large explosion-- one even larger than the explosion that had shook the Muggle prison room back in the complex-- rocked truck violently. The Muggles about him screamed with fear. For a sickening moment his sense of balance tilted and he was sure the truck was going to turn over, but then it stabilized out and kept on moving. 

Severus had fallen again. This time he had gone down front wards onto his knees. Grateful he hadn't landed on anything warm and human, he decided quite logically to forget about trying to get back up. Instead he began to continue to make his way towards where he had heard Ron's voice in a crawl. 

He had nearly made it when a loud bang reached his ears and then his world was plunged into complete and utter darkness. 

He stopped moving for a moment, wondering if he had perhaps passed out, since he couldn't see and the Muggles about him had all fallen silent at once. After a moment he decided he hadn't passed out... he could hear the truck was still moving... a constant thrumming was coming through the cold metal floor. 

He gave up with a sigh and merely sat, completely disorientated. 

There was a click and a sharp cutting beam of light swept over him and the rest of the muggles about him. He could see then, in the tiny beam of light, that most of the muggles about him, had made it into sitting or crouching positions on the uncomfortable floor. More beams of light followed bring it so that there was at least some light in the truck's interior. He glanced about, but most of the Muggles were still bathed in indiscernible shadow. 

And then, "Professor!" Ron called again, his voice extremely close. 

He turned his head and looked behind him. He could barely make out the boy, sitting cradled against a Muggle. Making a face, he climbed past the muggles around him, and settled in an uncomfortable sitting position beside the boy. "Are you all right?" He whispered at him after a moment. 

"Mmm..." Ron mumbled. He lay his head against the Muggle's shoulder with his eyes half closed. Snape recognized the Muggle... she was the woman from the group before. 

She smiled at him kindly, reaching down to stroke Ron's damp hair away from his face. Ron just looked like he was about to fall asleep again, despite the fact that the truck was jostling them all quite badly, and didn't offer up any protests to the mothering. 

"He's sick." The muggle woman whispered at Snape. 

Snape glowered. "I'm *aware* of that," He whispered fiercely at her.

She merely shrugged, and continued to stoke Ron's hair. "Don't worry... we'll get him something for the fever once..." She stopped as a Muggle... the one Severus recognized as the apparent "leader", stood up a good ten feet away from them. With his Muggle light stick trained on his face he began to address the lot of them, speaking in a foreign language again. Sometimes his speech was punctuated by cheers from the muggles sitting about him. 

"He's telling us that the mission was a success," The woman muggle explained to him in a very low whisper, her voice still kind. "Despite the surprisingly high security, they have freed their comrades and distroyed information..." She paused, listening a bit before translating more to Snape. "And now they have distroyed the building as well-- That must have been the explosion," She added half to herself. She continued, pausing at intervals to listen more. "A huge victory has been won against the evil American empire which surpresses us all..." She paused again. "That's about it... now he's giving out compliments to some of the comrades..." The Muggle man was making motions at some of the men with great flourishes of his hands. 

Snape nodded sharply, but was instead thinking about what the Muggle woman had said. Though Muggle affairs didn't usually creep into the Wizarding world, it occasionally did and he happened to know a couple of American wizards who were... concerned about the affairs of the Muggles in America. He didn't suppose that this "huge victory" was going to go over especially well in the wizarding world... or do much to calm nerves... especially not with Voldermort running around causing havoc across the sea... 

A soft snore beside him brought him out of his thoughts. He jerked his head and looked down, only to find that Ron had fallen asleep on the Muggle woman's shoulder-- his face as blissful as a baby's. 

After the lead Muggle had stopped talking the rest of the trip continued on in relative silence. Most of the Muggles appeared to be more than a little uncomfortable on the cold and hard metal floor of the truck, he could tell by the constant shuffling about, but apparently had chosen to suffer in silence as opposed to complain about it. This was a fact Severus was intensely grateful for. 

Ron slept. 

About a half an hour later the truck hit some rocky road, (or at least seemed to from the amount of jostling that they went through.) A minute or so later the truck came to a halt and turned off.

There was another loud bang and the back of the truck swung open, bathing them all in the artificial lights of the Muggle world. Severus gave the muggle next to him a questioning look. 

"This is where we all split into groups," She explained in the same whisper as before. "There should be about four more trucks waiting... we all split into teams and take off in different directions—" She paused as Severus pulled a face. "It confuses the authorities," She explained. 

"Ah." Said Severus shortly. 

In a distinctly orderly fashion the Muggles in front of them had begun to stand and file out of the back of the truck. Trusting that it was safe to do so, Severus cautiously stood as well. 

"You two are probably with me," The woman Muggle said from beside him, and Severus turned back to find her standing with her arm around Ron-- who was at least awake now but looking completely out of it. 

And so they were. Severus walked down the ramp of the truck, (noting that the truck looked rather *charred* on the outside), to find that he was standing in what appeared to be a VERY large Muggle wearhouse of some sort. The moment they were out of the truck and on the floor, they spent only a moment looking around, (Ron made some sort of hazy comment about how it didn't *look* at all like Hogwarts), when more Muggles waved them forwards-- towards a ramp leading into the back of another truck. 

Severus surpressed a groan under his breath. The woman Muggle laughed softly and made a sympathetic noise in the back of her throat. 

Luckily this trip didn't appear to be cut out to be quite as horrible as the last one for Severus... there was a lantern sitting at the very back (or rather front) of this truck, illuminating a rather cozy looking cargo area. A large pile of blankets lay in a corner along with some bags that looked like they may have contained food. 

The Muggle woman set Ron down in the corner, pulling down some blankets to cover him with. Settling down beside the boy, she motioned for Severus to join her.

He did so, partly because more people were crowding into back with them and there wasn't much room. 

They were joined a moment later.

"Found a new friend Sam?" Laughed a male Muggle, who had broke off from the rest of the Muggles and make his way over to them. He plopped down beside Severus and gave him a friendly whack on the back. 

Severus winced and gave him a not too friendly look back. The Muggle didn't seem to notice at all and continued. "Hey there!" He said amiably, "M'name's Jack." He grinned at Severus, proffering his hand. 

Severus reluctantly took it, only to have the Muggle damn near shake his arm off. It was bloody worse than shaking hands with the likes of Hagrid! He jerked his hand away quickly, clenching it to his chest, his teeth bared. 

A bang from the back of the truck momentarily distracted him from the Muggle man. They all turned their attention to the back as a few more Muggles crowded inside and the hatch was drawn closed. After a moment the now familiar lurch of the moving truck rocked them were they sat. 

Once they appeared to be moving smoothly again, the man turned his attention back to the female Muggle; at the same time unhooking what looked like a large canteen from around his waist and taking a swing from it. "So who are your friends Sam?" The man asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

The female Muggle smiled. "Just some comrades we broke out as well," she said. "This one not doing to well though, he has a fever..." she said, turning to look down at Ron with concern. 

"I'm okay," Ron said weakly from where he half sat, half lay beside the woman. He was giving Jack a particularly fascinated look, and Snape rolled his eyes. He could already see the signs of hero worship developing in the boy's eyes-- proving once again, that the boy had absolutely no taste whatsoever...

"Eh, well, this'll make you feel better!" The man said, grinning hugely and holding out the canteen towards Ron. The hero-worship look grew. 

Severus reached out and intercepted the canteen before Ron could, jerking it away and sniffing it. Lip curling, he handed it back to the Muggle. 

"All right-- no whiskey," Jack agreed amiably, taking another large swing from his canteen. "So, Sam?" he asked, nodding towards Severus. 

Sam's eyes twinkled. "I don't know Jack," She said. She turned her attention to Severus. "Father?" she asked.

"EW!" Ron said suddenly. Snape gave Ron a lethal scowl. 

"Nope, guess not," Sam laughed out loud. "Well then who?" she asked again, once she had gotten her chuckles under control. 

Snape was still glowering at Ron. "School teacher," He replied stiffly. 

"Ah..." Sam said. 

"Must be a heck of a story behind that!" Laughed Jack. 

"There is," agreed Ron, deciding, once again, that he was sick enough to look incredibly flushed, with his red hair sticking every which way, but definitely not too sick to talk. "You see, Professor Snape is a Deatheater really, when he isn't teaching..."

"Weasley," Snape began warningly. 

"Which isn't all that surprising, seeing as he's the meanest teacher we have... absolutely horrid. Once he..."

"WEASLEY!!" Snape roared. 

Ron shut up and gave him a wide-eyed look. So did the rest of the Muggles around him for that matter. Snape glowered with absolute loathing for a moment, then slumped back against the wall with a hiss of displeasure. He closed his eyes, determined to ignore them ALL and sulk for the rest of the trip to... where ever it was they were going. 

"... He's just upset that he can't give me any detentions right now," He heard Ron whisper conspiriously a moment later. 

The Muggle woman muffled another giggle. Severus gritted his teeth. He was beginning to wonder if it were *really* worth it doing his all to keep Ron alive... 


	6. Intermission

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 5  
**Intermission --  
**(In which much is explained, we meet more Muggles, Severus eats some really awful Muggle food and Ron gets a detention even though he's not in school... :D)  


The party of terrorists stopped for the last time about three hours later, coming to a halt in yet another Muggle garage. Instantly at least 13 of the 17 Muggles, (Severus had counted them all two hours back), climbed to their feet with strangled cheers. 

Through this Severus inferred that they had reached their destination.

Once again Ron had to be woken up, (this time by Snape who was still upset and used the opportunity to shake Ron rather roughly,) before venturing out of the truck. After some stretching of limbs they all headed to the very back of the garage, to where a tiny inconspicuous door stood. 

One by one they filed through that door, and found themselves in a place with several corridors leading off in many different directions. Luckily it appeared that at least one of the Muggles knew where to go. He led them down around and through several different halls, turns, doors and more halls. Finally after what seemed like forever (especially for Severus, who was carrying a rather heavy Ron), they came to a hole in the floor-- which had a step latter propped up against it's mouth. Said step latter led down into a musty smelling and dimly lit room. Off to the side of the room was one last unlit hall that ended in a very unused looking door. This was opened by one of the Muggles and they all filed though it. 

They stepped into the basement of a very ordinary looking Muggle house. Severus' eyes darted about, taking in everything from the rows upon rows of boxes to the paper covered furniture.

Someone shut the door behind them, causing Severus to jump. He relaxed, but only slightly, when more cheers welled up in the throats of the Muggles about him. 

"Home sweet home!" Sam announced from beside him, grinning. She spoke to Severus and Ron, explaining. "We'll be staying here for the next few days, laying low before we start shipping people out again." She said. 

"Brilliant..." Ron mumbled from against Severus' arm, sounding more than a little tired. 

Sam gave him a concerned look. "Oh sweetie, let's get you looked after," She said. 

Severus quickly learned that the name of the Muggle house was "Asylum". (Sam jokingly referred to it as the "Insane Asylum" on more than one occasion.) It was a rather large Muggle house with at least three floors including the basement. Incredibly enough, they all fit inside of it nicely enough... a fact that amazed Severus to no end. 

Right from the start, life turned rapidly into a whirl of activity where every person seemed to have something to do and did it instantly without question. 

On the first night Sam, (who apparently was a doctor as well as a terrorist,) had hauled Ron off to what appeared to be the kitchen of the Muggle house, sitting Ron down on a chair and poking him with a needle while Severus watched with clenched fists and teeth. Then she had led them both to a very small bathroom that contained only a sink and a toilet, where she commanded Severus to get Ron washed up. She had then disappeared-- only to return a minute later with what looked like very well worn Muggle clothing. These she thrust at Severus, along with some sandwiches covered in muggle-wrap and a wink. 

After a good half an hour of cleaning up Weasley-- who had conveniently decided to remain asleep for most of it, Severus was near beginning to reach the end of his limit. He was tired and upset, didn't have a CLUE where he was in the WORLD, let alone city, town or state, STILL couldn't do magic and had been in WAAYYY too much close physical contact with people over the last two days. He may have been a damn good spy, which meant that he was also a damn good pretender, but he didn't think he could pretend he wasn't miffed right off for a moment longer. 

Luckily the Muggle woman decided to return right about then, which forced him to rein in his emotions, and gave Ron a quick once over. With a nod of approval she led them off to a bedroom. The bedroom, though incredibly small, had been set up with a single bed and a cot. After making sure the still asleep and lightly snoring Weasley had been settled into the latter, Severus settled into the former and was fast asleep within moments. 

When Severus Snape woke up, he was totally and completely alone. 

Which was a blessed relief... not to see or hear or endure Weasley's presence again was a dream come true...

And then he remembered. 

Turning absolutely white, Snape sat straight up in bed, swinging his legs over the side and staring with no small amount of trepidation at the messy and unmade cot that Ron had occupied. For a fleeting moment he wondered if the boy had been dragged off again, (three days at the hands of the FBI Muggles did that to a person), and then he remembered the far more pleasant circumstances they were in presently. Drawing himself up and scowling a bit at the fact that he was missing his robes, (Sam had confiscated them the day before when she had given them replacement Muggle clothing), he swept from the room. 

It didn't take him long to locate Ron either, he could hear the boy's loud laughter not very far down the hall. He winced. Ron was obviously better, to be awake and making so much noise so incredibly early in the morning... 

He wondered exactly what time it was anyway. 

As he approached the sound of Ron's laughter, he wondered if the boy remembered. Just the thought was enough to make him grow pale again. What if he *did* remember? What then? How was he ever going to approach the boy again? He was fairly sure Ron would make a large fuss, and not only that just the memory was enough to make him cringe inside. 

His fears were calmed though, when he walked into the next room. 

It was a larger room, perhaps the biggest in the house, with one LARGE table in the direct center of it, which had a good dozen chairs placed around it. Sitting on two of the chairs was Ron and a Muggle who Severus recognized as Rashid. The boy was apparently cheerfully helping Rashid clean Muggle weapons as a slightly dirty rag was clenched in his hand. As Severus flounced into the room, Ron looked up and gave his Potions Master a hesitant half-smile. 

Severus Snape gave his student his patented sneer back, which caused Ron to look away again. The boy frowned slightly before deliberately focusing his complete and utter attention back to Rashid and the weapons. 

Severus stood there for a very short moment, taking the time to breathe a mental sigh of relief. Apparently Ron didn't remember, or else there would have been a whole lot of more emotion on that easily excitable boy's face. 

Secure in the knowledge that he was safe for the time being, Severus walked through the room to find himself in yet another-- this one he recognized from the day before-- it was the kitchen area. 

Sam was already there, eating some sort of colorful Muggle food in a bowl of pink tinted milk. One eyebrow arched gracefully into his hairline. 

"Hey!" Sam greeted him cheerily through a mouthful of the food. "You're awake! 'Ave some." Without getting up, she motioned to a box that said "Fruit Loops" along the side of it, as well as a small pile of Muggle bowls and spoons and a see-through jug of milk. 

Severus regarded the offering skeptically for a moment before hunger won out and he sat, picking up and mixing the cereal and milk together in a bowl. It was quite like potions actually... he glanced at Sam's bowl to reassure himself that he was mixing the correct amounts, then stopped when they appeared satisfactory. (Sam was giving him strange looks by this point.) Retrieving a spoon from elsewhere on the table, he scooped some of the milk drenched cerial up and stuck it in his mouth. 

And very nearly spat it out again. "What is this?" He sputtered.

Sam gave him a wide-eyed look. "Fruit Loops." She said. "... Haven't you ever had them before?" 

"No." He winced, replacing his spoon on the kitchen table. "I daresay I don't believe I'm missing much." He paused. "Isn't there anything else to eat around here?" He asked a bit balefully. 

Sam shrugged. "No, not really."

Severus merely looked at her. 

Sam shrugged again. "Nobody around here knows how to cook really good." She explained. 

Severus' expression turned from one that was slightly pained to one that was slightly horrified. Upon seeing that Sam wasn't about to offer up any other grand words of advice, Severus let out a self-suffering sigh and very slowly reached out and picked up his spoon again. Looking like a man about to be led to the Guillotine, he stuck his spoon in his cereal/milk and scooped some of the stuff up, then stuck it in his mouth.

And chewed. 

For some reason this was incredibly funny and Sam howled with laughter. As for Severus, he couldn't for the life of him figure out exactly what was so funny about really awful Muggle food, and gave her a rather nasty look. This only served to make her laugh harder. 

"So..." Sam stopped chuckling after much difficulty. She leaned back in her chair, and studied him for a moment. "What about Ron?" She asked finally.

Severus gave her a completely blank look, then made yet another face as he forced down another spoon of the Fruit Loops and milk. "What about him?" He asked once he had quelled the nausea. 

"I don't know... it's sweet," Sam said thoughtfully, twirling her spoon in-between her fingers. 

Severus merely glared at her, which didn't seem to affect the blond American Muggle at all. She grinned. 

"The way you care about him," she elaborated.

Severus continued to glare at her. "I'm afraid you're mistaken..." he said swiftly in a clipped voice, placing down his spoon again with particular force. "I don't care about him at all."

Which was the truth. He didn't. He looked off towards the dining room despite himself and she turned in her chair to follow his gaze-- taking in Ron as he chattered needlessly and incessantly at Rashid, still helping him clean the Muggle weapons. Rashid kept on grinning and nodding-- and occasionally righting the weapons in the boy's hands when he pointed them the wrong way-- but it was obvious that the man could barely understand a word the boy was saying. Which was good, because Snape caught a "and my brother Bill works with Dragons, isn't that bloody brilliant?? One year Hagrid, our magical creatures teacher...." and he very nearly groaned out loud. He was going to have to have a *talk* with the boy. 

The woman turned her attention back to him and chuckled. "You do care about him," She said. "I can see it on your face." 

He didn't know what she thought she saw on his face, because it hadn't been anything remotely pleasant. He turned his glare back on her. She was smiling at him. 

He sighed, exasperated. "Ma'am," he said stiffly. "When I'm *not* a terrorist, I'm a school teacher." Which wasn't all that far from the truth... the Deatheaters could very well be considered a terrorist organization, and he *was* a school teacher-- as she well knew from the day before. "Ron Weasley is nothing more than my rather disobedient student."

"Oh, yes! I remember." She looked at him kindly. "Well then what *is* he doing here then?" She asked.

"It is a long elaborate story of which I am not quite sure of all the details." He replied darkly. "Rest assured, I feel *nothing* for him *or* any of the rest of the students I teach." He added, and his lips thinned... partly because he had just overheard Ron finish telling Rashid about the Mountain Troll him and Harry had defeated back in their first year at Hogwarts. 

The Muggle woman looked shocked for a second, then her expression turned to something akin to sympathy. "I see. But you still must feel some sort of responsibility towards him... he's your charge after all. You got him caught up in this; you have to get him back in one piece if you can. "

"In that degree, I suppose, yes." 

She stood, gathering up her breakfast dishes as she did. "Don't worry Mr. Snape," She said, reaching out and patting his hand gently. "We'll take care of you... and get you and your young charge back home again." 

He tried not to make his expression seem too grateful, but some of it may have appeared on his face anyway. Either way the Muggle woman smiled back at him kindly before getting up from the table and serenely walking away. 

He managed to get Ron away from Rashid a couple of minutes later and proceeded to drag the boy to their bedroom (the only place he could hope to get a moment of privacy.) Grasping the boy by his shoulders, he propelled him towards the cot the boy had slept on the night before and forcefully sat him down. 

"What, may I ask," he began in a voice soft and lethal enough to assure Ron that he was very *upset* and most definitely not joking. "Was the meaning of telling that MUGGLE man about the wizarding world, Mr. Weasley?" He sneered a bit and narrowed his eyes. 

Ron winced, but said nothing. 

"Don't you know how foolish that is?" Severus continued. "Your father works for the Ministry of Magic no less, I would have expected better from you!" 

Ron looked uncomfortable for a moment, shifting about on the mattress, then shrugged. "He doesn't understand me anyway," He tried. "Thinks I'm making up stories..."

Eyes cold, Severus leaned down towards the boy, so far that his face was about a foot away from Ron's. "But you know, and I know that you're not making up stories now do we Mr. Weasley??" He asked. 

Ron was beginning to look distinctly threatened. "I..."

Snape straightened. "You will not do it again! Do you understand me?" 

Ron nodded wordlessly, a faint flush coloring his cheeks. 

Severus turned towards the door, then turned back again. "In fact Mr. Weasley, I think I know of a way to help you remember not to tell Muggles things they don't need to know." He smiled, which wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world to see. "Congratulations, you now have a detention." 

Ron's mouth fell open. "I _what_??"

"This afternoon. Be in the kitchen a three o'clock sharp!" Severus snarled. With that he turned heel and swept from the room.

As soon as he had disappeared from sight he distinctly heard Ron Weasley let loose a string of curses about him, and despite himself Severus smirked. His life, for the moment, was complete. A student hated him. Now if he could only get his robes back from the Muggles he'd be the happiest wizard alive...

During the next week or so Severus actually got quite used to his new routine. Beginning on the day of his awful encounter with "Fruit Loops" he had received permission from anyone he asked to cook the meals in the house. Which satisfied him completely... cooking he found was more than a little bit like potions with all of it's chopping and mixing. He was in his element when he was in the kitchen and it did more than enough to calm him and keep him occupied.

And, of course, being Hogwart's Potion's Master, and with his attention to detail he cooked *very* good food. 

In fact all the Muggles said he cooked the best food they had ever tasted when they gathered for their noon and evening meals. Even Ron thought it was great, and had once let it slip that it was "almost as good as the house elf's cooking" a comment that had landed him in detention in the kitchen chopping vegetables with his moody professor for an entire afternoon.

Oh Thursday, three days after they had arrived, the leader of the organization-- who was a large man with olive skin flashing eyes and a thick accent-- insisted on speaking with Severus. It turned out to be an interview. The interview went well for the most part... the man just wanted to know about his organization-- the Deatheaters. Severus found that he didn't even really need to lie to the Muggle. He just told him about past attacks, like the one that the real Black was arrested for 15 years previous (which had killed a street full of Muggles) and claimed that they had been done by them. Led him to believe that their exploits where usually covered up by the Muggle police... which they usually were with a little bit of help from the Ministry of Magic. 

The Muggle seemed to believe him, a fact he was extremely grateful for. He allowed Severus to leave the room then with only a friendly request for Severus to put in a good word for them once he got back to Great Britain. Severus was only too happy to oblige.

There was only one thing that seemed a little bit off to him happened when he was exiting the room after his interview. Sam was standing outside of the door. She looked startled for a whole half a second, before she was at his side with an innocent smile and a "how did it go?" He immediately took her intentions to be benign and answered in the positive. After all she had showed nothing but kindness towards him and Ron... there was no reason to assume she had any ill intent towards him, was there?

It was Sunday afternoon, - exactly 6 days after their escape from the FBI, - when Jimmy, a rather stiff looking Muggle with a full beard came into the kitchen. As it was roughly 3 pm, Severus was already preparing supper and Ron was helping him by yet again chopping the veggies... (Ron had made an off-handed reference to magic earlier that day, which had suitably upset Severus enough to land him in detention. In actual fact Severus wasn't all that upset at the boy... he was just trying to distract him, seeing as he was becoming quite bored and had begun to use what little brain capacity he had to ask questions. It was for his own good-- keeping him at odds with his teacher kept him mind off of other troubling but important subjects-- like if they were *ever* going to get home again...) 

Anyway, Jimmy walked into the room and they both looked up at him. 

Jimmy grunted. "We move out tomorrow." He announced. 

Severus and Ron glanced at each other and then blinked back at the Muggle. "Where are we going?" Ron asked politely. 

The Muggle grunted again. "North." He replied. With that he turned heel and left the room. 

Severus stared after him for a long moment. "North" didn't explain much at all. He would have to ask Sam later on that night what exactly the Muggle meant by "North". 

He glanced back at Ron, only to see the boy was making very uneven cuts at the celery that he was chopping-- the pieces were at least a good quarter inch wider than they were supposed to be—

"WEASLEY!" Snape roared. Ron grinned down at his celery and flinched appropriately. "I thought I told you to make the pieces small!" 

It wasn't hard to question Sam on the subject that night at dinner-- she sat between him and Jack at the extremely large dinner table. When the noise level of the conversations about them had hit such a volume that it was possible to speak in a low voice to the person next to you and not be heard, Severus asked Sam about the news. 

"Are we leaving tomorrow?" He asked softly. 

Sam looked distinctly uncomfortable for a moment before she nodded. "Yes," she replied back under her breath. 

"And were, may I ask, are we going?" Severus continued in a low voice, concentrating on pretending to eat. 

Sam hesitated for a moment. "North," She said finally. "We're heading up through Montana before swinging towards Washington. I imagine they'll be dropping you at the border." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Once across you should be home free to make it for England..." She trailed off.

Severus nodded slowly. "Anything else?" He asked.

Sam made a face. "Um, no. That's about it. We're up early tomorrow..." She distracted away from him as Jack turned to converse with her. 

Severus Snape was silent for a long moment before he returned his attention back to his food. So. They moved out tomorrow then... 

All was quiet that night in the cramped room that Severus and Ron shared. Quiet at least, until Ron spoke up in the darkness. "Professor Snape?" He asked. 

Snape studied the darkened ceiling for a moment before replying grumpily. "What is it Wealsey?" 

"About Harry and Professor Dumbledore and all them?" Ron asked him. 

"Yes." Snape replied shortly. 

Ron paused for a second. "Do you think they're all right?" he asked into the darkness.

"How should I know?" Snape snarked at him. "I'm not there, am I?" 

Ron was silent for a long moment, perhaps because he was biting his tongue. "... Don't you wish you were home now?" He asked softly. "Just if it were to see... if everyone is okay?"

Snape sighed irritably. "I don't particularly *care*, Weasley, one way or another." He thought of adding "Really Weasley, do I *want* to go back to a bunch of pathetically useless students like Neville who couldn't make a proper potion if their life depended on it..." but didn't say it. He softened his tone a bit, just a bit, and continued. "I told you before Wealsey, your insufferable Potter friend is infallible. I'm sure he's fine. Now *goodnight* Weasley." 

The boy was silent, and for a moment Severus thought the boy had taken his hint and stopped talking. But then a very softly whispered-- "I want to go home," reached his ears. 

For a long moment Severus studied the ceiling, silently counting to ten... then when nothing else was spoken, he turned his head to inspect the boy. Ron Weasley's eyes were closed, his face relaxed in sleep. Severus studied him for a short while, then snorted softly and turned his attention back to the ceiling. 

He hoped to fall right to sleep as well. Unfortunately it didn't appear that sleep was befalling him any time soon. 

Instead he lay wide awake in the darkness, endless questions turning over and over again in his mind. So they were going to leave tomorrow. That was all fine and good, but what about after they fled into the country to the north? He had no Muggle money at all. How were Ron and he to survive? Beg? 

He supposed he could always get a cooking job somewhere... 

~~~

"So?" 

"So." 

There was a pause. Then -- "So does his story check out?" 

She looked vaguely frustrated. "You know as well as I do that nothing checks out' in this." 

"You know what I meant."

Yes, yes I did." A pause. "I can *see* it, sir. He's not a good person, or at least doesn't make a terrible effort to be one. But in regards to that boy..." her voice trailed off. 

"That boy?" He prodded gently. 

Her voice was soft, near a whisper. "Everything we knew is void, and everything we thought is true. Past all the glares, chiding remarks and what have you, all he wants is for the safety of that kid." Another pause, this one longer than the last. "If there were only some other way...?" 

A sigh. "Major, you know the agenda as well as I do. If we miss our drop Hammond'll..." 

"I know sir." She said. "I know." A wistful pause. "It seems such a shame though..."


	7. Back into the Fire

A/N: I'm very very sorry this took so long. -_-;; I started University in January, and found new interests, which put this on complete hold. Sorry again and thank you to all of you who e-mailed me to encourage me to write more. ^_^ As for now, this is the last part... but given the fact that the second movie is coming out later this month, who knows? Maybe I'll pick it up again at a later date.   
Enjoy! 

**-------------------------------------------------------  
**Chapter 6  
**Back into the Fire --   
**(In which we discover that not all American government officials are bad guys... really they aren't!! ^_~)

The next morning Severus was up at the crack of dawn, (hours before Ron even thought about getting out of bed), to help the Muggles prepare packs of food for the journey. He noticed that the Muggles seemed fairly subdued, and accepted his help with a grim kind of silence. 

Only Sam seemed willing to give him any sort of directions. When she did, she spoke in a low voice, barely above a whisper. 

"Are you all ready to go?" She asked finally, after they had finished the food packs. At the same time she handed him two brown paper bags full of sandwiches and supplies. 

He nodded. He had acquired his black Slytherin robes back from her several days before and, beyond Weasley, those had been his only possessions anyway... 

"Then go get Ron," Sam instructed. She glanced behind herself at the room full of terrorists, before turning past Severus, walking deliberately close to him as she went. "And make sure you keep him close to you." She said out of the corner of her mouth, so quietly that only Severus could hear. 

The walk to back to where the truck was kept was even more subdued. Even Ron tread beside him silently, his brown eyes wide as he glanced about nervously. The Muggles ignored him, seeming intent on walking grimly along the corridors. 

It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong. Severus also noticed that Ron and him were the only people in the party who hadn't been given weapons, a fact that concerned him, given Sam's cryptic statement earlier... 

Reaching down, he lay long bony fingers on Ron's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. Ron glanced up at him and he nodded at the boy, hoping that he would understand his teacher's silent command to stay close. From the nervous look on Weasley's face, Severus guessed that he didn't have to worry about that all that much. 

They came to the garage soon enough, and in groups of two or more began to make their way up and onto the truck. Severus and Ron were near the end of the group. 

Severus had a very bad feeling all of a sudden. As he gazed up into the darkened pit of the inside of the truck, already packed with silent and weaponed Muggles he was struck with the most uncanny feeling of fear. If he got on that truck 

Hogwart's Potion Master glanced about quickly, keen eyes searching for some sort of escape. All he saw was Sam and Jack and the last couple of terrorists behind him, all who were holding weapons. There was no way out, he realized finally. Sam gave him a small smile and the tiniest nod of encouragement. Grimly Severus turned away. Despite himself he flexed his figures on the boy's shoulders, drawing him a mite bit closer to himself and led Ron up the trucks rampart. 

The terrorists parted silently for them once they reached the top. Finding a secure piece of wall off to the side he sat. 

Amazingly enough Weasley sat as well, quiet for once in his life. He watched out of wide eyes as they loaded the last of the Muggles into the truck and the back hatch was drawn shut with an ominous clang of finality. In the darkness Sam and Jack somehow managed to find the two of them. Sam sat beside him on one side, and Jack sat on the other side of Ron. "Hey," Jack whispered in the darkness. "How are you, bud?"

Ron didn't have the opportunity to reply. His answer was swallowed in the sound of the truck rumbling to life. 

"What exactly is going on here?" Severus hissed under his breath at Sam as the loud rumbling sound evened out and the truck jerked to life. 

Sam only shook her head. He watched her, in the dim light that filtered in from cracks along the corners of the truck, as she half sniffed and moved her hand up to cup it about her nose. 

There was something in her hand. For a long moment Severus stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. Then he realized that whatever it was she was holding it over her nose and a small thrill of alarm coursed through him. He turned his head to discover that Jack on the other side of Ron was doing the same, crouched with his hand over his mouth. 

He also realized that he was feeling very very sleepy. 

"Ron!" he hissed. He was just in time to catch the boy as he slumped over onto his lap. Severus caught the boy, but even the basic act of moving his arms was very difficult for him. His arms felt like lead. He shook his head furiously, trying to shake the groggy feeling that was quickly clouding his mind. An overwhelming sense of panic accompanied it. He had to get out of here! 

He didn't make it an inch. Before he knew it his head was falling towards his lap. He slumped over onto Ron as well. The last thing he remembered was Sam peering down at him with her cursed sympathetic eyes, one hand placed gently on his shoulder and the other one still cupped around her mouth and nose. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound would come out. His very last action before passing out was to curl his lip up to snarl at her.

Severus awoke slowly to the gentle loll of a moving Muggle vehicle. He moaned very softly to himself, wondering why, exactly, his limbs felt like they were in the process of recovering from a good bought of Crusio'. 

The he remembered. He blinked, taking in all that he could see-- which was exactly nothing. It was dark. 

Alarmed he tried to move his hands, only to find them pinned somehow in an awkward position, somewhere behind him. It felt like he was tied to a chair again. 

Agitated, he thrashed. 

"Hey there!" A VERY familiar voice said it him. The cloth was removed from around his eyes. Severus blinked as sudden light flooded his vision. It took a couple of moments to adjust to the light, and then he looked around desperately. He *was* in the seat of a moving Muggle vehicle, of that much he had figured out before. He watched out of the tinted windows of the vehicle as trees flew by. They were traveling somewhere rural then, and by the fact that it was daylight out, he assessed that it was still the same day as the day that he had passed out in the back of the truck. What happened after that, he had no memories of, like how he had gotten here... where ever *here* was...

It appeared that he was tied to front seat. What surprised him was the fact that Jack was sitting besides him and driving the vehicle. The man was also dressed in a grayish-green uniform of some sort that wasn't familiar. The uniform was endowed with odd rounded patches on the sleeves. 

"Hey Professor!" Ron spoke up cheerily from somewhere behind him. Severus twisted around to see that Ron was sitting in the back of the Muggle vehicle beside Sam, who was also dressed in the uniform that was decorated with those odd round icons. A quick once over told him that Ron appeared to be fine and unbound... but that didn't explain why *he* was tied to a seat. 

"What is the MEANING of this?" Severus demanded to know, whipping his head back around and glaring for all his worth at Jack. 

"Whoa big guy!" Jack afforded him a glance, before placing one of his partially gloved hands on his gun, which sat on his lap. 

Severus stilled appropriately. He understood the silent threat of the muggle death sticks. 

Sam spoke up from behind them. "It's okay sir," She said quickly to Jack, before turning her attention to Severus. She caught the lethal look on Severus' face as he twisted as best he could in his chair to see her. "We can explain to them about us..." 

Snape sneered at her. "I most certainly hope you can!" He snapped. He had *trusted* the blond Muggle woman-- apparently that had been a mistake.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Hey!" He said quickly. "We saved your butts back there! They were going to kill you!" 

Snape's eyes narrowed, ignoring the fact that Ron was now giving him a particularly alarmed look. "And how do I know you wouldn't do the same?" He hissed. 

"Well we could," Jack drawled. "But we're not going ta." 

"Oh?" 

"We're not," Sam said from behind him. Out of the corner of his eye Severus could see her shaking her head. 

Jack sighed. "Look," He explained. "We're undercover agents. We work for the United States Air Force. Three months ago we received information about an escaped..." He hesitated giving Severus a sidelong look. "*Interest* of ours..." He signaled and turned the vehicle left.

Sam picked up in the telling of their story. "Our search for him led us to the organization that you have now spent a week with. We infiltrated it fine and found our target and even managed to extract some information we needed from Area 52..." 

Jack was shaking his head. "What disaster **that** was..." 

"Yes sir. Everything went off without much of a hitch... but you two presented a little bit of a, uh, problem for us." Sam paused significantly. "We didn't expect innocents to get involved." 

"If we can even call you guys innocents..." Jack cut in. "To tell all truth, we have no idea *what* on earth you two are."

Snape closed his eyes briefly before opening them again. "I told you," he said, his voice low and tired sounding. "I'm a school teacher." 

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said, continuing to drive. "I'm sure. Luckily my friend back there seems to believe you," He glanced at Severus briefly. "That's the only reason why we're doing this."

There was silence as Severus digested that. "And what," Severus asked, slowly and deliberately. "Is it that you're doing exactly?" 

"They're taking us home!" Ron piped up. 

Sam let out a little laugh and ruffled the boy's orange locks of hair fondly. Ron wrinkled his nose and moved his head away, even though he was grinning. 

"Well not really," Sam said in reply to Ron's comment. "We're going through the northern half of Montana anyway before looping back to Colorad..." She paused as Jack made a vague cut-throat gesture before turning his attention back to driving. 

"Back to our base." She completed after a moment. "So we thought we'd just drop you off on the border." 

Jack turned the vehicle onto a rather bumpy gravel road. The occupants of the Muggle vehicle continued on in silence for a bit, as they were jostled about. 

"Then would you mind untying me?!" Severus exploded, after giving another good little struggle against his bonds. He still had no idea *why* he was tied up in the first place. It didn't make any sense... unless Sam had felt threatened by his lovely little snarl he had given her before passing out. 

Jack gave him a serene look out of the corner of his eye. "In a moment," He replied. "Where almost there."

Severus growled under his breath, muttering something about Muggle incompetence. Hunching his shoulders, he slumped down in his seat and glared out of the window, appearing, to the entire world, to be sulking. Instead he was mentally weighing his options. He didn't trust these people. No matter how friendly Sam was, the Jack guy still had a gun that was serenely nestled in his lap. There was no telling if he would even use it, but the fact remained that chances weren't really heavy in his favor. He was tied up and helpless (YET again), and they were presently traveling along a road that was obviously not often traveled...

Needless to say Severus was more than a little agitated when the truck finally rolled to a stop along the side of the road. He watched warily as Sam climbed out of it, along with Jack and Ron. A moment later his door was pulled open and Jack leaned inside. A flash of metal told Severus that he had a pocketknife in hand. He jerked away instinctively, his eyes wide. Bloody hell! He knew it... 

His actions caused a soft chuckle to well up from Jack. "Relax," He instructed. At the same time he reached behind Severus with the knife, and a few seconds after that Severus could feel his hands again. He brought them forward and flexed his hands, mildly surprised. Besides a small amount of chaffing on his wrists, they were fine. 

Jack actually chuckled at him. "When I said we weren't going to hurt you, I meant it," He said, stepping off of the foot pad and reaching up to offer Severus a hand down.

Snap stepped down on his own, and glanced further up the road where Ron was walking away from the truck and along side of Sam, obviously nattering her ear off about nothing in particular. He hesitated and glanced back at Jack. 

Jack nodded in their direction. "Go on," He said. "Go." 

Severus hesitated for a moment more, then said something that came extremely hard to him. "... Thank you." 

Jack smiled and shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets and nonchalantly leaning up against the side of the truck. "It's what we do," he replied, grinning. 

Severus nodded and managed a thin smile back before sweeping off in the direction of Ron and his friend. 

"You go up this road about a mile until you hit the border," Sam was explaining. "A couple of miles after that there is a small town. You should be able to find a ride from there." She smiled. "Will you be able to find it okay?" She asked. 

Severus nodded once sharply. It didn't appear to be too hard. He glanced down the length of the dirt road, noting that it curved off around a bend not too far up. 

"Oh yes," Sam said suddenly, reaching down and fumbling in the pocket of her fatigues for something. A moment later she straightened again, with a folded handful of muggle money. This she pressed into Severus hand. 

"Take this," She instructed. "It's not much, but it'll be enough to get you to the airport in Lethbridge. From there you're on your own, but I'm sure you'll be able to think of something." 

"I..." Severus found himself in a difficult situation for the second time in a matter of minutes. "I have no way to repay you." He said finally. He deliberately ignored Ron, who was uttering such things as "oh cool!" and "I bet my dad would love to see that!" in regards to the money. 

Sam grinned. "Don't worry about it," She said, chuckling as she ruffled Ron's hair again. "Call it payment for the wonderful meals over the last few days." She glanced back at the truck, only to see Jack waving at her to go. 

She nodded. "Coming sir!" she called back. She turned to Severus and Ron one last time. "So," she said. 

"So." Severus repeated, feeling like an utter dolt. He managed not to sneer.

The Muggle woman smiled up at him. "Do you think you'll be okay then?" She asked. 

Severus glanced down the road and back again. "We'll be fine," He said briskly. He hesitated. "... Thank you." He added rather stiffly. Oh how the mighty have fallen he thought to himself sourly. It was the second time in a matter of minutes he was actually thanking a Muggle for their help. 

Sam nodded. "No prob!" She watched as Severus lay a hand on his student's shoulder and then they turned and began down the dirt road. "Take care of your teacher Ron!" She called after them suddenly. 

Ron turned and waved back at her. "I will!!" He said cheerily. Severus gritted his teeth and snarked something under his breath, which only made Ron laugh when he turned back again. 

Sam watched them go until teacher and student walked around the bend and disappeared out of sight. 


End file.
